French President Emmanuel Macron has reappointed Sebastien Lecornu as the country’s prime minister, just days after he offered his resignation.
Mr Lecornu’s reappointment followed days of intense negotiations and came less than a week after he resigned amid infighting in his freshly named government.
As France struggles with mounting economic challenges and ballooning debt, Macron has asked Lecornu to try again to form a government and produce a budget in a bid to end the country’s political deadlock.
The appointment is widely seen as the president’s last chance to reinvigorate his second term, which runs until 2027.
Lacking a majority in the National Assembly to push through his agenda, Mr Macron faces mounting criticism – including from within his own ranks – and has little room to manoeuvre.
Mr Macron’s office released a one-sentence statement announcing the appointment, one month after a statement when Mr Lecornu was initially named and four days after he resigned.
Mr Lecornu said in a statement on social networks that he accepted the new job offer out of “duty”.
He said he was given a mission “to do everything to give France a budget by the end of the year and respond to the daily problems of our compatriots”.
All those who join his new government will have to renounce ambitions to run for president in 2027, Mr Lecornu said, adding that the new cabinet will “incarnate renewal and a diversity of skills”.
He said: “We must put an end to this political crisis that exasperates the French and to this bad instability for France’s image and its interests.”
Mr Lecornu abruptly resigned on Monday, only hours after unveiling a new cabinet that drew opposition from a key coalition partner.
The shock resignation prompted calls for Mr Macron to step down or dissolve parliament again. But they remained unanswered, with the president instead announcing on Wednesday that he would name a successor to Mr Lecornu within 48 hours.
Political party leaders who met for more than two hours with Mr Macron, at his request, on Friday emerged from the talks saying they were not certain what step the French leader would take next.
Some cautioned that another prime minister picked from the ranks of Mr Macron’s fragile centrist camp would risk being disavowed by the parliament’s powerful lower house, prolonging the crisis.
