Until now, Macron has battled to keep his key achievements untouched, notably his controversial pension reforms and long-running opposition to tax hikes, despite election defeats in 2022 and 2024.
“We’ll have to backtrack on some things, on [canceling two] bank holidays,” Macron said, referring to Bayrou’s draft budget that included removing two bank holidays. “We must be able to find a compromise.”
The man for the job
France’s new prime minister may not be well known to the general public, but while still only 39 years old he has notched a few political successes in his eight years by Macron’s side, honing skills that will be much needed in the weeks ahead.
As armed forces minister, Lecornu managed to overcome divisions in a highly fractured parliament and get more than 400 lawmakers to pass his seven-year military programming budget in 2023, which saw increased spending for the military.
“Some say it’s easy to negotiate budget increases,” said a close ally of the president. “He will tell you it wasn’t.”
Unlike political grandees Bayrou and Barnier, Lecornu has spent the last years in the political trenches at the National Assembly and in local politics.