Macron loyalist picked to fix budget mess in new French government

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By Geert De Clercq and Richard Lough

PARIS (Reuters) -French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu on Sunday named Roland Lescure, a close ally of President Emmanuel Macron, as finance minister in a new government that political rivals threatened to topple quickly if it failed to break with past Macron policies.

Lescure, who was swift to rally behind Macron when he first ran for the presidency in 2017, briefly spent time in the Socialist Party early in his career. While his nomination was widely seen as a nod to the left ahead of further delicate cross-party budget negotiations, left-wing lawmakers were unimpressed.

Budget talks have grown increasingly fraught, requiring delicate trade-offs between three ideologically opposed blocs – Macron’s ruling centrist minority, the far right and the left – which can fell the minority government if they unite against it.

Lawmakers from the hard-left France Unbowed party said a no-confidence motion would be filed immediately. The first big test for Lecornu, 39, Macron’s fifth prime minister in two years, will be a speech on Tuesday outlining his policy programme.

BUDGET CRISIS

Lecornu’s two predecessors, Francois Bayrou and Michel Barnier, were brought down by parliament over efforts to rein in France’s public spending at a time when ratings agencies and investors are closely watching the country’s fiscal deficit, the largest in the euro zone.

Lecornu has said he appreciates the calls for a break from the past eight years under Macron’s leadership. His political opponents said Macron’s latest cabinet represented continuity.

“We made it clear to the Prime Minister: It’s either a break with the past or a vote of no confidence. The government announced this evening … is all about continuity and absolutely nothing about the break with the past that the French people demand,” Jordan Bardella, president of the nationalist National Rally party, wrote on X.

Hard-left lawmaker Eric Coquerel wrote on X: “For the third time since the July 2024 elections, Emmanuel Macron is once again imposing on us a government of losers and policies that have been rejected at the ballot box.”

LE MAIRE RETURNS TO GOVERNMENT

Former finance minister Bruno Le Maire, who oversaw France’s “whatever it costs” response to the COVID-19 pandemic, was appointed defence minister. He will now shape French thinking on how Europe should bolster European security as U.S. President Donald Trump demands the European Union do more to support Ukraine.

Several key ministers remained in their posts, including Jean-Noel Barrot at the foreign ministry, Bruno Retailleau at interior and Gerald Darmanin at justice.

Underlining the government’s fragility, Retailleau, a conservative, expressed discontent at the distribution of portfolios among ruling alliance partners and called an emergency party meeting on Monday.

France Unbowed lawmakers reiterated their call for a presidential election – something Macron has ruled out.

COURTING THE SOCIALISTS

Lescure, 58, will face a tough balancing act: securing either support or abstention from the Socialists, while preserving Macron’s pro-business legacy and keeping conservatives and liberals on board.

The Franco-Canadian and former senior executive at Natixis Asset Management will also need to be mindful of the far right’s budget sensitivities, given their readiness to try toppling the government once more.

To win over the Socialists, Lecornu has proposed a wealth tax long demanded by the left, and ruled out using special powers to push the budget through parliament without a vote. They have so far called his overtures insufficient.

“Without a change in policy, the Socialists will vote against the government,” Socialist Party Secretary General Pierre Jouvet told BFM TV.

(Reporting by Geert De Clercq, Richard Lough, Elizabeth Pineau and Gilles Guillaume; Writing by Richard Lough; Editing by Ros Russell and Edmund Klamann)