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The French leader has asked his former prime minister to resume duties as French prime minister just days after he stepped down, causing a week of high drama and crisis.

The president declared late on Friday, shortly after meeting key political groups together at the Élysée Palace, excluding the representatives of the far right and far left.

His reappointment shocked many, as he said on national TV 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. Lecornu faces a deadline on the start of the week to present the annual budget before the National Assembly.

Political Challenges and Fiscal Demands

The Élysée confirmed the president had assigned him to build a cabinet, and his advisors implied he had been given full authority to make decisions.

Lecornu, who is one of a trusted associate, then published a long statement on social media in which he accepted as an obligation the assignment given to him by the president, to do everything to secure a national budget by the year's conclusion and respond to the daily concerns of our countrymen.

Ideological disagreements over how to lower government borrowing and reduce the fiscal shortfall have caused the ouster of two of the past three prime ministers in the last year, so his challenge is immense.

France's public debt in the past months was nearly 114 percent of national income – the number three in the currency union – and the annual fiscal gap is projected to amount to 5.4 percent of economic output.

Lecornu said that everyone must contribute the necessity of fixing government accounts. Given the limited time before the end of Macron's presidency, he cautioned that anyone joining his government would have to put on hold their political goals.

Ruling Amid Division

What makes it even harder for Lecornu is that he will face a vote of confidence in a legislative body where the president has lacks sufficient support to endorse his government. The president's popularity hit a record low recently, according to research that put his support level on just 14%.

The far-right leader of the National Rally party, which was not invited of the president's discussions with party leaders on the end of the week, remarked that the decision, by a president out of touch at the Élysée, is a poor decision.

His party would promptly introduce a challenge against a struggling administration, whose sole purpose was fear of an election, he continued.

Seeking Support

The prime minister at least understands the obstacles he faces as he tries to build a coalition, because he has already devoted 48 hours this week talking to parties that might join his government.

Alone, the moderate factions lack a majority, and there are disagreements within the conservative Republicans who have assisted the ruling coalition since he lacked support in the previous vote.

So he will seek progressive groups for possible backing.

In an attempt to court the left, officials hinted the president was considering a delay to part of his controversial pension reforms passed in 2023 which raised the retirement age from the early sixties.

The offer was inadequate of what left-wing leaders wanted, as they were expecting he would appoint a premier from the left. The Socialist leader of the leftist party commented lacking commitments, they would withhold backing to back the prime minister.

Fabien Roussel from the Communists stated following discussions that the left wanted real change, and a leader from the central bloc would not be endorsed by the citizens.

Greens leader the Green figure expressed shock the president had offered the left almost nothing to the progressives, adding that “all of this is going to turn out very badly”.