Macron appoints Defence Minister Lecornu as France’s latest prime minister
Published:Tuesday | September 9, 2025 | 2:03 PM
PARIS (AP) — French President Macron late Tuesday appointed Defence Minister Sébastien Lecornu as France's new prime minister and tasked him with immediately trying to get the country's fractious political parties to agree on a budget for one of the world's biggest economies.
Lecornu, 39, was the youngest defence minister in French history and architect of a major military buildup through 2030, spurred by Russia's war in Ukraine.
A long-time Macron loyalist, Lecornu is now France's fourth prime minister in barely a year.
A former conservative who joined Macron's centrist movement in 2017, Lecornu has held posts in local governments, overseas territories and during Macron's yellow vest “great debate,” when he helped manage mass anger with dialogue.
He also offered talks on autonomy during unrest in Guadeloupe in 2021.
His rise reflects Macron's instinct to reward loyalty, but also the need for continuity as repeated budget showdowns have toppled his predecessors and left France in drift.
Macron's quick decision to name Lecornu comes ahead of a day of mass disruption planned Wednesday by a protest movement called ''Block Everything'' that prompted the government to deploy an exceptional 80,000 police to keep order.
Legislators toppled Lecornu's predecessor Francois Bayrou and his government in a confidence vote on Monday, a new crisis for Europe's second-largest economy.
Bayrou gambled that lawmakers would back his view that France must slash public spending to rein in its huge debts. Instead, they seized on the vote to gang up against the 74-year-old centrist who was appointed by Macron last December.
The demise of Bayrou's short-lived minority government heralds renewed uncertainty and a risk of prolonged legislative deadlock for France as it wrestles with pressing challenges, including budget difficulties and, internationally, wars in Ukraine and Gaza and the shifting priorities of US President Donald Trump.
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