French President Emmanuel Macron has appointed Defence Minister Sébastien Lecornu as a new Prime Minister, according to Le Monde newspaper.
Lecornu, aged 39, is the only minister to have been in Macron’s government since his election in 2017. He is perceived as being close to the president, a hardliner on strengthening France’s military power and offering continued assistance to Ukraine in its war against Russia. Lecornu is a qualified lawyer and joined politics as part of the centre-right Les Républicains. In 2017, he defected to Macron’s movement and has since held various ministerial positions. As of 2022, he has served as the chief of the Ministry of the Armed Forces, where he has been the driving force behind a whopping €413 billion rearmament plan by 2030 as a response to the Russian threat. The program will double the defense budget, increase the size of the army to 300,000, comprising 100,000 reservists, and modernize the nuclear force and build a new aircraft carrier. Lecornu has also been behind launching the ‘Great National Debate’ in 2019, the government’s response to the ‘yellow vest’ movement, and in talks with overseas territories such as Guadeloupe.
Lecornu was France’s fifth prime minister in two years after François Bayrou, who had remained in office for only nine months. The parliament approved a no-confidence motion against Bayrou on 8 September for unpopularity budget reforms. Bairre called for a ‘tough austerity’ budget to reduce the budget deficit to 4.6% of GDP, down from 5.4% of GDP, by 2026. Adoption of the 2026 budget will be the first actual test for Lecornu in his new position, Bloomberg further reports.
Lecornu’s appointment has been seen as a sign that Macron will continue with his policy of enhancing the defense capability of the nation and ongoing assistance to Ukraine, and as a step towards attaining stability in domestic political affairs after a string of prime ministers.
The French political crisis began a year ago when Emmanuel Macron dissolved parliament and called for early elections to attempt to prevent the far-right National Rally party from rallying its power. In the early elections, the National Rally lost fewer seats than the left-new Popular Front and Macron’s centrist coalition. However, as a result, the lower house of parliament was split into three opposition blocs with no majority.
