{"id":412267,"date":"2025-09-10T04:49:16","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T04:49:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/412267\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T04:49:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T04:49:16","slug":"macron-appoints-defense-minister-sebastien-lecornu-as-frances-latest-prime-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/412267\/","title":{"rendered":"Macron appoints Defense Minister S\u00e9bastien Lecornu as France’s latest prime minister"},"content":{"rendered":"

PARIS (AP) \u2014 French President Emmanuel Macron<\/a> on Tuesday appointed Defense Minister S\u00e9bastien Lecornu as new prime minister and tasked him with immediately trying to get the country\u2019s fractious political parties to agree on a budget for one of the world\u2019s biggest economies.<\/p>\n

Lecornu, 39, was the youngest defense minister in French history and architect of a major military buildup through 2030, spurred by Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine<\/a>. A longtime Macron loyalist, Lecornu is now France\u2019s fourth prime minister in barely a year.<\/p>\n

A former conservative who joined Macron\u2019s centrist movement in 2017, Lecornu has held posts in local governments, overseas territories and during Macron\u2019s yellow vest \u201cgreat debate,\u201d when he helped manage mass anger with dialogue. He also offered talks on autonomy during unrest in Guadeloupe in 2021. <\/p>\n

His rise reflects Macron\u2019s instinct to reward loyalty, but also the need for continuity as repeated budget showdowns have toppled his predecessors and left France in drift.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"French<\/p>\n

French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu, left, receives President Emmanuel Macron at the 55th International Paris Airshow at Le Bourget Airport near Paris, June 20, 2025. (Benoit Tessier\/AP File)<\/p>\n

French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu, left, receives President Emmanuel Macron at the 55th International Paris Airshow at Le Bourget Airport near Paris, June 20, 2025. (Benoit Tessier\/AP File)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

Macron\u2019s quick decision to name Lecornu comes ahead of a day of mass disruption planned Wednesday by a protest movement called \u2018\u2019Block Everything\u2019\u2019<\/a> that prompted the government to deploy an exceptional 80,000 police to keep order.<\/p>\n

Legislators toppled Lecornu\u2019s predecessor Fran\u00e7ois Bayrou and his government in a confidence vote on Monday, a new crisis for Europe\u2019s second-largest economy.<\/p>\n

Bayrou gambled that lawmakers would back his view that France must slash public spending to rein in its huge debts. Instead, they seized on the vote to gang up against the 74-year-old centrist who was appointed by Macron last December.<\/p>\n

The demise of Bayrou\u2019s short-lived minority government heralds renewed uncertainty and a risk of prolonged legislative deadlock for France as it wrestles with pressing challenges, including budget difficulties and, internationally, wars in Ukraine and Gaza and the shifting priorities of U.S. President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"French<\/p>\n

French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu speaks with the media as he arrives for a meeting of NATO defense ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo\/Harry Nakos, File)<\/p>\n

French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu speaks with the media as he arrives for a meeting of NATO defense ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Feb. 13, 2025. (AP Photo\/Harry Nakos, File)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

Drafting a budget will be a top priority for Lecornu, and normally a new prime minister would form the new government before negotiating the national spending in Parliament. However, Macron has asked Lecornu to consult with all of the political parties in Parliament first to try to agree on a budget before assembling his team.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe prime minister\u2019s action will be guided by the defense of our independence and our power, serving the French and the political and institutional stability for the unity of our country,\u201d Macron said in a statement.<\/p>\n

When the yellow vest movement against social injustice erupted, prompting months of sometimes violent demonstrations in the streets, Lecornu was chosen by Macron to lead the so-called \u201cgreat debate\u201d across the country<\/a> aimed at appeasing tensions.<\/p>\n

A minister of oversea territories from 2020 to 2022, Lecornu faced virus-related rioting and strikes<\/a> in the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, offering to discuss some autonomy for the territory affected by long-running frustrations over inequality with the French mainland.<\/p>\n

The 413 billion euros ($435 billion) defense spending package Lecornu championed for 2024-2030 represents the most significant spending hike in France in half a century. The money aimed to modernize France\u2019s nuclear arsenal, augment intelligence spending and develop more remote-controlled weapons.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Thomas Adamson and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PARIS (AP) \u2014 French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday appointed Defense Minister S\u00e9bastien Lecornu as new prime minister…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":412268,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[141731,15897,32,34,2000,299,36,16831,4179,7304,12267,285,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-412267","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-angela-charlton","9":"tag-conservatism","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-emmanuel-macron","12":"tag-eu","13":"tag-europe","14":"tag-france","15":"tag-france-government","16":"tag-general-news","17":"tag-government-appointments-and-nominations","18":"tag-government-budgets","19":"tag-politics","20":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115178200532010545","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=412267"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412267\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}