French PM names new Cabinet as deadline to present budget nears

jacques anatole francois thibault’s fresh reappointed undercoat government minister Sebastien Lecornu named a young government Sunday, as he faces pressure to urgently produce a budget and quell political turmoil that is scaring businesses and investors and staining the country’s image.

The Cabinet includes several familiar faces from previous governments who hail from French President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist camp as well as allied conservatives, and some people from outside the political sphere.

It is unclear how long this new team will last. Macron, whose term ends in 2027, lacks a majority in the deeply fractured parliament and is losing support from his own ranks. Meanwhile Marine Le Pen's ascendant far-right National Rally party is calling for new elections, while far-left France Unbowed wants the president to resign.

Immediately after the president's office announced the new Cabinet, the conservative Republicans party announced it was expelling the six party members who agreed to join the government.

Lecornu, a 39-year-old centrist and close ally of Macron, and his government will now have to seek compromises to avoid an immediate vote of no confidence in the National Assembly, deeply fractured among far right, centrist and left-wing camps.

Among new appointments is a new defense minister, former Labor Minister Catherine Vautrin, who will help oversee French military support for Ukraine and address threats to European security posed by Russia.

Paris police chief Laurent Nunez, who oversaw security for the 2024 Olympics, becomes interior minister, in charge of national security. Roland Lescure will be finance minister, a crucial job as France tries to produce a budget that tackles ballooning debt and growing poverty.

Those keeping their jobs include Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, who travels Monday with Macron to Egypt for an international ceremony marking the Gaza ceasefire.

Lecornu, France's fourth prime minister in a year, appointed his first government a week ago — then resigned hours later amid protests by a key conservative coalition member. That unleashed days of political uncertainty.

Macron persuaded Lecornu to stay on as prime minister and renamed him Friday. Lecornu acknowledged Saturday that there weren’t “a lot of candidates” for his job — and that he might not last long in the post given the country’s deep political divides.

Lecornu may be forced to abandon an unpopular pension reform that was one of Macron’s signature policies in his second presidential term. Rammed through parliament without a vote in 2023 despite mass protests, it gradually raises the retirement age from 62 to 64. Opposition parties want it scrapped.

Macron’s shock decision last year to dissolve the National Assembly produced a hung parliament and political paralysis as it faces a debt crisis that has worried domestic businesses, global financial markets and EU partners.

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