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The French leader has called upon Sébastien Lecornu to return as French prime minister a mere four days after he stepped down, sparking a week of high drama and instability.

The president stated on Friday evening, shortly after gathering leading factions in one place at the official residence, except for the leaders of the far right and far left.

Lecornu's return came as a surprise, as he said on national TV recently that he was not interested in returning and his task was complete.

Doubts remain whether he will be able to assemble a cabinet, but he will have to act quickly. He faces a cut-off on the start of the week to put next year's budget before parliament.

Governing Obstacles and Economic Pressures

The presidency confirmed the president had “tasked [Lecornu] with forming a government”, and his advisors implied he had been given complete freedom to make decisions.

The prime minister, who is one of Macron's closest allies, then released a long statement on X in which he agreed to take on responsibly the mission assigned by the president, to do everything to secure a national budget by the end of the year and tackle the common issues of our compatriots.

Political divisions over how to lower France's national debt and balance the books have resulted in the ouster of several leaders in the last year, so his challenge is immense.

France's public debt in the past months was close to 114% of national income – the third highest in the euro area – and current shortfall is projected to amount to 5.4% of the economy.

Lecornu stated that “no-one will be able to shirk” the imperative of restoring government accounts. Given the limited time before the end of Macron's presidency, he cautioned 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 show of support in a legislative body where the president has no majority to endorse his government. Macron's approval reached its lowest point in the latest survey, according to research that put his approval rating on 14 percent.

Jordan Bardella of the right-wing group, which was not invited of the president's discussions with party leaders on Friday, remarked that the prime minister's return, by a president out of touch at the presidential palace, is a “bad joke”.

The National Rally would immediately bring a motion of censure against a doomed coalition, whose sole purpose was avoiding a vote, the leader stated.

Building Alliances

Lecornu at least knows the pitfalls in his path as he tries to form a government, because he has already used time lately consulting political groups that might join his government.

By themselves, the moderate factions cannot form a government, and there are disagreements within the traditionalists who have assisted the administration since he lost his majority in recent polls.

So Lecornu will seek socialist factions for possible backing.

In an attempt to court the left, officials hinted the president was thinking of postponing to part of his controversial social security adjustments enacted last year which increased the pension age from the early sixties.

That fell short of what left-wing leaders desired, as they were anticipating he would appoint a leader from the left. Olivier Faure 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 Communists said after meeting the president that the left wanted genuine reform, and a prime minister from the president's centrist camp would not be supported by the French people.

Greens leader Marine Tondelier remarked she was surprised the president had provided few concessions to the progressives, adding that “all of this is going to turn out very badly”.