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President Emmanuel Macron has asked his former prime minister to return as French prime minister a mere four days after he resigned, sparking a week of political upheaval and political turmoil.

Macron declared on Friday evening, following consulting with all the main parties collectively at the Élysée Palace, except for the representatives of the extremist parties.

The decision to reinstate him was unexpected, as he declared on television just 48 hours prior that he was not seeking the position and his “mission is over”.

Doubts remain whether he will be able to form a government, but he will have to hit the ground running. Lecornu faces a deadline on Monday to submit financial plans before lawmakers.

Governing Obstacles and Budgetary Strains

Officials announced the president had given him the duty of creating a administration, and his advisors indicated he had been given “carte blanche” to proceed.

Lecornu, who is one of Macron's closest allies, then issued a long statement on X in which he consented to “out of duty” the assignment assigned by the president, to strive to finalize financial plans by the December and respond to the common issues of our countrymen.

Ideological disagreements over how to reduce the country's public debt and reduce the fiscal shortfall have led to the ouster of multiple premiers in the last year, so his mission is enormous.

The nation's debt recently was nearly 114 percent of gross domestic product – the number three in the eurozone – and current shortfall is expected to hit 5.4 percent of economic output.

Lecornu emphasized that no one can avoid the need of restoring France's public finances. Given the limited time before the completion of his mandate, he cautioned that those in the cabinet would have to put on hold their presidential ambitions.

Governing Without a Majority

Compounding the challenge for Lecornu is that he will face a parliamentary test in a legislative body where the president has is short of votes to support him. His public standing reached its lowest point recently, according to an Elabe poll that put his support level on 14%.

Jordan Bardella of the National Rally party, which was left out of the president's discussions with party leaders on the end of the week, commented that the prime minister's return, by a president “more than ever isolated and disconnected” at the presidential palace, is a misstep.

They would quickly propose a challenge against a struggling administration, whose sole purpose was avoiding a vote, Bardella added.

Seeking Support

The prime minister at least knows the pitfalls he faces as he tries to establish a cabinet, because he has already devoted 48 hours this week talking to political groups that might join his government.

Alone, the centrist parties are insufficient, and there are disagreements within the right-leaning party who have helped prop up Macron's governments since he lacked support in elections last year.

So he will look to progressive groups for potential support.

In an attempt to court the left, Macron's team indicated the president was evaluating a pause to part of his divisive social security adjustments passed in 2023 which increased the pension age from 62 up to 64.

It was insufficient of what left-wing leaders desired, as they were anticipating he would choose a premier from the left. Olivier Faure of the Socialists said “since we've not been given any guarantees, we won't give any guarantee” in a vote of confidence.

The Communist figure from the Communists said after meeting the president that the progressive camp wanted real change, and a leader from the president's centrist camp would not be accepted by the citizens.

Environmental party head the Green figure expressed shock Macron had given minimal offers to the left, adding that “all of this is going to turn out very badly”.