The resigning Prime Minister of France says that there is a desire among the parties to see the budget approved by the end of the year that eliminates the prospect of a dissolution of the National Assembly. Sébastien Lecornu is listening to the parties this Wednesday.
The resigning French Prime Minister, welcomed this Wednesday the convergence in consultations with the parties to find a way out of the political crisis with a view to “having a budget” by the end of the year.
“Everyone agrees in stating (…) that the public deficit target must remain below 5% (…) that is, clearly between 4.7 and 5%” for 2026, added Lecornu, at a time when France had until now forecast a deficit of 4.7% of GDP for next year.
In his speech at Matignon, before receiving the socialists, who demand the appointment of a left-wing prime minister and the suspension of pension reform for “unlock the situation”Lecornu moved away “the prospect of dissolution” of the National Assembly.
The surprise resignation of Sébastien Lecornu on Monday morning, just 14 hours after presenting his Government, plunged France into an unprecedented political crisis and reignited investors’ concerns regarding the country’s political and budgetary situation.
“I got the impression that they too want France to be able to provide itself with a budget”
Tasked with forming a coalition by the end of the day, the prime minister with the shortest mandate in the Fifth Republic is carrying out consultations at a rapid pace, in a mission that appears to be a last-chance mission.
The French head of state, Emmanuel Macron, has already made it known, through his close circle, that “will assume its responsibilities” in the event of failure in today’s negotiations, leaving in the air the threat of a new dissolution of the Assembly, currently divided into three blocs without a clear majority (left, center-right and extreme right).
During discussions with socialists, ecologists and communists – who are expected to meet successively with Lecornu during the day – the objective will be “understand what concessions these left-wing political forces demand from others to guarantee stability, and also what concessions they are willing to make.”
“I got the impression that they also want France to be able to provide itself with a budget”, added the resigning Prime Minister. In addition to the budget, the head of the Government in office also mentioned another “concern of great importance” to be resolved: New Caledonia, with the proposed law that aims to postpone the provincial elections.
Lecornu is expected to speak again tonight, at the end of the mission entrusted to him by Macron: carrying out “last minute negotiations” with the different political forces, none of which have a majority in the Assembly, to present to the President “the solutions that are on the table”.
“I censor everything. Here and now, that’s enough. The joke has lasted long enough”
The leader of the French extreme right, Marine Le Pen, has already warned that her party, the National Union (RN), will block any new government, considering that holding new elections is “totally inevitable”.
“I censor everything. Here and now, that’s enough. The joke has lasted long enough”he stated during a visit to an agricultural fair in Cournon-d’Auvergne (central France), in which he stated that he was “waiting for a dissolution” of the National Assembly “or a resignation (of President Emmanuel Macron).
During the morning, the motion to dismiss Macron presented by Unsubmissive France (LFI, radical left) was considered inadmissible by the members of the National Assembly board, with five members voting in favor, ten against and five abstentions.
A year and a half before the French presidential elections, RN appears as the clear favorite in terms of voting intentions, at a time when the centrist bloc is in collapse and is fighting with the left for a place in the second round – according to a survey published this Wednesday by Toluna Harris Interactive for RTL.
RN systematically appears in first place in voting intentions for the first round, either with its president, Jordan Bardella (35%), or with Marine Le Pen (34%), who has already run for President of the Republic three times
