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The French leader has asked his former prime minister to return as head of government just days after he resigned, causing a week of intense uncertainty and crisis.

Macron stated towards the end of the week, hours after consulting with all the main parties together at the Élysée Palace, omitting the figures of the far right and far left.

Lecornu's return was unexpected, as he stated on broadcast recently that he was not seeking the position and his role had concluded.

Doubts remain whether he will be able to establish a ruling coalition, but he will have to start immediately. The new prime minister faces a deadline on the start of the week to put next year's budget before lawmakers.

Governing Obstacles and Economic Pressures

The Élysée confirmed the president had “tasked [Lecornu] with forming a government”, and his advisors suggested he had been given “carte blanche” to make decisions.

Lecornu, who is one of the president's key supporters, then published a detailed message on X in which he accepted “out of duty” the assignment assigned by the president, to strive to provide France with a budget by the December and tackle the everyday problems of our fellow citizens.

Partisan conflicts over how to bring down government borrowing and reduce the fiscal shortfall have led to the fall of several leaders in the recent period, so his task is daunting.

Government liabilities earlier this year was close to 114% of economic output (GDP) – the third highest in the currency union – and the annual fiscal gap is estimated to reach over five percent of the economy.

The premier said that “no-one will be able to shirk” the imperative of fixing France's public finances. With only 18 months before the completion of his mandate, he warned that those in the cabinet would have to put on hold their presidential ambitions.

Ruling Amid Division

Adding to the difficulty for the prime minister is that he will face a show of support in a parliament where the president has is short of votes to support him. Macron's approval hit a record low recently, according to an Elabe poll that put his approval rating on 14%.

Jordan Bardella of the right-wing group, which was excluded of consultations with party leaders on Friday, commented that Lecornu's reappointment, by a president increasingly isolated at the official residence, is a poor decision.

His party would immediately bring a vote of no confidence against a struggling administration, whose main motivation was dreading polls, he continued.

Building Alliances

Lecornu at least knows the pitfalls in his path as he tries to build a coalition, because he has already spent two days recently meeting with factions that might join his government.

Alone, the centrist parties are insufficient, and there are divisions within the traditionalists who have assisted Macron's governments since he lacked support in elections last year.

So he will look to socialist factions for future alliances.

As a gesture to progressives, officials indicated the president was thinking of postponing to some aspects of his controversial retirement changes enacted last year which raised the retirement age from 62 to 64.

The offer was inadequate of what socialist figures wanted, as they were expecting he would choose a leader from the left. The Socialist leader of the Socialists stated lacking commitments, they would withhold backing in a vote of confidence.

Fabien Roussel from the Communists said after meeting the president that the left wanted substantive shifts, and a prime minister from the president's centrist camp would not be supported by the citizens.

Environmental party head the Green figure remarked she was surprised Macron had provided few concessions to the progressives, adding that the situation would deteriorate.