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The French leader has requested his former prime minister to come back as head of government a mere four days after he stepped down, triggering a stretch of high drama and crisis.

Macron made the announcement on Friday evening, hours after gathering all the main parties collectively at the Élysée Palace, excluding the figures of the political extremes.

The decision to reinstate him came as a surprise, as he said on television only two days ago that he was not “chasing the job” and his role had concluded.

Doubts remain whether he will be able to assemble a cabinet, but he will have to hit the ground running. The new prime minister faces a cut-off on Monday to put next year's budget before parliament.

Governing Obstacles and Economic Pressures

Officials said the president had given him the duty of creating a administration, and those close to the president implied he had been given “carte blanche” to make decisions.

Lecornu, who is one of Macron's closest allies, then published a detailed message on an online platform in which he consented to “out of duty” the mission entrusted to me by the president, to do everything to secure a national budget by the December and tackle the daily concerns of our compatriots.

Partisan conflicts over how to lower France's national debt and cut the budget deficit have led to the ouster of two of the past three prime ministers in the recent period, so his challenge is enormous.

Government liabilities recently was almost 114% of gross domestic product – the third highest in the euro area – and the annual fiscal gap is estimated to amount to 5.4 percent of economic output.

The premier said that no one can avoid the necessity of restoring government accounts. Given the limited time before the completion of his mandate, he warned that prospective ministers would have to put on hold their aspirations for higher office.

Governing Without a Majority

What makes it even harder for the prime minister is that he will face a show of support in a National Assembly where the president has lacks sufficient support to endorse his government. His public standing plummeted recently, according to research that put his support level on just 14%.

The far-right leader of the right-wing group, which was not invited of Macron's talks with faction heads on Friday, remarked that the prime minister's return, by a president out of touch at the official residence, is a “bad joke”.

The National Rally would promptly introduce a motion of censure against a struggling administration, whose only reason for being was dreading polls, Bardella added.

Building Alliances

The prime minister at least is aware of the challenges in his path as he tries to form a government, because he has already used time this week consulting factions that might participate in his administration.

On their own, the centrist parties lack a majority, and there are divisions within the right-leaning party who have supported the ruling coalition since he lacked support in recent polls.

So Lecornu will consider socialist factions for potential support.

In an attempt to court the left, officials suggested the president was evaluating a pause to portions of his controversial pension reforms passed in 2023 which extended working life from the early sixties.

That fell short of what progressive chiefs hoped for, as they were anticipating he would choose a prime minister from the left. Olivier Faure of the leftist party stated “since we've not been given any guarantees, we won't give any guarantee” to back the prime minister.

The Communist figure from the left-wing party stated following discussions that the left wanted real change, and a leader from the president's centrist camp would not be accepted by the French people.

Greens leader the Green figure remarked she was surprised the president had offered the left almost nothing to the progressives, adding that “all of this is going to turn out very badly”.