France, Macron will appoint a brand new prime minister “within 48 hours” | EUROtoday

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No early voting. Within forty-eight hours, the outgoing Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu defined on Wednesday night, Emmanuel Macron might appoint his successor at Palazzo Matignon. The circumstances, he defined, are there, there may be an absolute majority within the Assemblée that’s in opposition to a dissolution: «All the political forces that got here to talk to me, besides La France Insoumise and the Rassemblement nationwide, advised me that it will be too harmful to not have a price range authorised by December thirty first». It can be crucial, he added, to take care of the dedication to carry the deficit under 5%, a threshold barely greater than these hypothesized thus far by the maneuvers of Lecornu and, earlier than him, of François Bayou.

The vital ingredient, nevertheless, the outgoing prime minister defined, is that the “legitimate” presidential ambitions of many political exponents are by some means sterilized. There are too many “partisan appetites”, and “in the privacy of conversations, political leaders want to move forward, but militants push towards the most rigid positions”. Lecornu then revealed that he has “the intimate conviction that the team that will have to assume responsibilities, whatever the choice of the President of the Republic, will have to be completely disconnected from presidential ambitions for 2027”. +

«A path continues to be potential», Lecornu then mentioned, repeating an idea already expressed within the morning: «There is the desire – he mentioned – to approve a price range for France by 31 December. This want to create a motion and a convergence distances the prospects of dissolution, however it’s not sufficient. It is clear that this price range should embody a collection of parameters that enable France to maneuver ahead.” A reappointment seems to be ruled out: “My mission is over,” he said, although on Monday, to meet the deadlines, he will file a budget project.

The new prime minister will face a partly new political situation, radically and abruptly changed by the words of Elisabeth Borne, the former prime minister (and now resigning Minister of Education) who launched – without the vote of Parliament, invoking the special procedures of article 49.3 of the Constitution – the pension reform. Borne wondered whether it was not necessary “to droop the reform, if – she added – that is the situation for the steadiness of the nation”. In short, the reform must not become a totem. Lecornu also admitted that the issue was an important blocking element in the construction of possible compromises.

The reactions to Borne’s words were strong. The presidential camp is divided. Economy Minister Roland Lescure, a Macronian with a distant (and brief) socialist past, recalled the price of a suspension: «Modifying the pension reform will cost hundreds of millions of euros in 2026 and billions in 2027», (three billion, according to Lecornu) and invited «everyone» to «make concessions» in the knowledge that «each of them will have a price, and it will be necessary to find the funds to finance them». Edouard Philippe, Macron’s ally and presidential candidate in ’27, said no: «We cannot compromise with the truth and with the meaning of this pension reform: we need to work harder, said the entourage of the president of the Horizons party. Therefore a suspension of the pension reform is excluded. Our country can’t afford it.” On the centre-right, Bruno Retailleau, president of the Républicains and Minister of the Interior, mentioned that the reform is an “absolute red line”, to not be touched, as soon as once more fueling divisions throughout the get together: a number of deputies expressed way more conciliatory positions.