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President Emmanuel Macron has requested Sébastien Lecornu to resume duties as French prime minister a mere four days after he left the post, causing a week of political upheaval and political turmoil.

The president made the announcement late on Friday, following gathering key political groups together at the official residence, omitting the representatives of the far right and far left.

The decision to reinstate him was unexpected, as he stated on broadcast recently that he was not seeking the position and his role had concluded.

There is uncertainty whether he will be able to assemble a cabinet, but he will have to start immediately. Lecornu faces a cut-off on Monday to submit financial plans before the National Assembly.

Governing Obstacles and Economic Pressures

The presidency said the president had “tasked [Lecornu] with forming a government”, and his advisors implied he had been given “carte blanche” to act.

The prime minister, who is one of the president's key supporters, then released a detailed message on X in which he consented to “out of duty” the task assigned by the president, to do everything to secure a national budget by the December and address the everyday problems of our fellow citizens.

Political divisions over how to bring down government borrowing and balance the books have resulted in the fall of two of the past three prime ministers in the last year, so his challenge is enormous.

Government liabilities in the past months was almost 114% of economic output (GDP) – the number three in the eurozone – and the annual fiscal gap is estimated to reach 5.4% of the economy.

Lecornu said that everyone must contribute the need of restoring government accounts. Given the limited time before the completion of his mandate, he advised that those in the cabinet would have to put on hold their political goals.

Ruling Amid Division

Compounding the challenge for the prime minister is that he will face a vote of confidence in a parliament where the president has lacks sufficient support to endorse his government. His public standing plummeted in the latest survey, according to an Elabe poll that put his support level on 14%.

The far-right leader of the far-right National Rally, which was excluded of the president's discussions with party leaders on Friday, said that the decision, by a president out of touch at the Élysée, is a “bad joke”.

His party would quickly propose a motion of censure against a doomed coalition, whose main motivation was dreading polls, he continued.

Forming Coalitions

The prime minister at least knows the pitfalls ahead as he tries to establish a cabinet, because he has already used time lately consulting factions that might join his government.

Alone, the moderate factions lack a majority, and there are disagreements within the right-leaning party who have supported Macron's governments since he lacked support in recent polls.

So Lecornu will seek progressive groups for possible backing.

To gain leftist support, the president's advisors suggested the president was considering a delay to some aspects of his divisive retirement changes enacted last year which extended working life from the early sixties.

That fell short of what progressive chiefs hoped for, as they were expecting he would select a premier from their side. The Socialist leader of the Socialists said “since we've not been given any guarantees, we won't give any guarantee” to back the prime minister.

Fabien Roussel from the left-wing party said after meeting the president that the progressive camp wanted real change, and a leader from the president's centrist camp would not be endorsed by the public.

Environmental party head Marine Tondelier remarked she was surprised the president had offered the left almost nothing to the progressives, adding that “all of this is going to turn out very badly”.