google-site-verification: googlec7193c3de77668c9.html

France’s Macron taking a big risk in picking a loyalist to be his next PM | World News

President Emmanuel Macron has moved quickly to appoint Sebastien Lecornu as France’s new Prime Minister.

The appointment comes almost exactly 24 hours after Francois Bayrou lost a confidence vote in the National Assembly – rejecting his bid to make £40bn in savings and cutting two of the country’s annual public holidays.

Francois Bayrou was ousted in a no confidence vote. Pic: Reuters
Image:
Francois Bayrou was ousted in a no confidence vote. Pic: Reuters

Lecornu, 39, is a Macron loyalist – he is the only minister to have served in all eight years of Macron’s presidency and ran his re-election campaign.

Publicly, the outgoing armed forces minister is a serious figure, giving little away, but is said to be lively and engaged behind the scenes.

He’s known to be a wily political operator, despite his young years.

Follow The World
Follow The World

Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday

Tap to follow

By picking someone close to him, Macron is again taking a big risk.

He’s choosing from a pool of centre-right politicians who’ve repeatedly failed to breach a National Assembly deadlock.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

France in ‘deep political crisis’ after no-confidence vote

This appointment will do nothing to cool tensions ahead of nationwide protests tomorrow organised by the Block Everything (Bloquons Tout) movement – it’s a big snub to the socialists and left-wing who believe they have a mandate to govern.

But Lecornu had a secret dinner with the far-right leader Marine Le Pen in 2024.

National Rally's Marine Le Pen Pic: Reuters
Image:
National Rally’s Marine Le Pen Pic: Reuters

Read more:
Macron may only have one way out of his self-inflicted mess

He reportedly has their tacit approval if he takes the job, and this might be Macron’s gamble: National Rally (Le Pen’s party) is the largest in the parliament.

If Lecornu can bring them onside, then he has a chance of breaching the divide and passing a much-needed budget with a deadline of 7 October nearing.


Source link

Advertisements

See also  Kremlin addresses claims Trump sent COVID test machines to Putin | US News

Check Also

US deportations to African countries unlawful and exploit suffering – HRW

Campaign group Human Rights Watch (HRW) says the deportation of migrants from the US to …

Lithuania PM confident of ‘huge’ NATO response if Russia attacks | World News

Lithuania is no stranger to the threat posed by Russia given its geography and history. …

Russia denies second case of infectious disease – as WHO seeks to verify reports of new ‘plague’ contact | World News

Russia has denied that a second case of an infectious disease has emerged where a …

Leave a Reply

Available for Amazon Prime