National Rally leader Jordan Bardella has condemned the reappointment of Sébastien Lecornu as French prime minister, calling it “a bad joke, a democratic shame, and a humiliation for the French.”
In a post on X, Bardella accused President Emmanuel Macron of being “more isolated and disconnected than ever at the Élysée,” saying that the new government “has no future” and exists only “out of fear of dissolution—that is, fear of the people.” He vowed that the National Rally “will of course immediately censure this arrangement.”
President Emmanuel Macron reinstated Lecornu late Friday—just four days after his resignation and the collapse of his first cabinet, which lasted less than a day. The decision has triggered anger across the political spectrum and renewed fears of instability as France faces rising debt, EU budget pressure, and a looming parliamentary showdown.
Lecornu, 39, has pledged to form a government “not imprisoned by the parties” and to present a cost-cutting 2026 budget by Monday. He told reporters that his “only ambition” was to end a crisis “painful for everyone” and said “all debates are possible” on pension reform, the policy that helped sink his predecessors.
Macron’s allies hope Lecornu, a skilled negotiator and former defence minister, can bridge divides in a hung parliament. But opposition leaders remain defiant. The Socialists warned they would oust the government unless the pension age hike from 62 to 64 is reversed, while Republicans leader Bruno Retailleau urged his party not to take ministerial posts in the new cabinet.
France’s president, now in the final 18 months of his term, faces the toughest test of his presidency. The National Rally has emerged as the strongest parliamentary force and senses a path to power in 2027, with Bardella widely seen as the right’s rising contender to succeed Macron.
