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President Emmanuel Macron has requested his former prime minister to resume duties as French prime minister only four days after he resigned, triggering a week of political upheaval and instability.

Macron made the announcement late on Friday, shortly after gathering all the main parties together at the presidential palace, excluding the representatives of the far right and far left.

Lecornu's return was unexpected, as he stated on television recently that he was not interested in returning and his role had concluded.

It is not even certain whether he will be able to establish a ruling coalition, but he will have to hit the ground running. Lecornu faces a time limit on Monday to put next year's budget before parliament.

Political Challenges and Budgetary Strains

The presidency said the president had assigned him to build a cabinet, and those close to the president implied he had been given complete freedom to proceed.

Lecornu, who is one of a trusted associate, then published a detailed message on X in which he accepted as an obligation the task assigned by the president, to make every effort to secure a national budget by the December and respond to the everyday problems of our compatriots.

Political divisions over how to lower government borrowing and balance the books have caused the ouster of several leaders in the recent period, so his challenge is immense.

France's public debt earlier this year was close to 114% of gross domestic product – the number three in the eurozone – and the annual fiscal gap is projected to amount to 5.4 percent of GDP.

Lecornu emphasized that “no-one will be able to shirk” the need of repairing the nation's budget. Given the limited time before the conclusion of his term, he cautioned that prospective ministers would have to put on hold their presidential ambitions.

Ruling Amid Division

Adding to the difficulty for the prime minister is that he will face a parliamentary test in a National Assembly where Macron has is short of votes to back him. Macron's approval reached its lowest point recently, according to research that put his approval rating on just 14%.

The far-right leader of the right-wing group, which was left out of Macron's talks with political chiefs on the end of the week, remarked that the prime minister's return, by a president out of touch at the official residence, is a “bad joke”.

They would promptly introduce a vote of no confidence against a struggling administration, whose sole purpose was fear of an election, 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 devoted 48 hours lately meeting with political groups that might participate in his administration.

By themselves, the centrist parties cannot form a government, and there are splits within the conservative Republicans who have assisted the administration since he failed to secure enough seats in elections last year.

So he will seek progressive groups for future alliances.

In an attempt to court the left, Macron's team indicated the president was considering a delay to portions of his controversial pension reforms implemented recently which extended working life from the early sixties.

That fell short of what socialist figures desired, as they were hoping he would select a leader from their side. The Socialist leader of the Socialists said lacking commitments, they would withhold backing to back the prime minister.

Fabien Roussel from the Communists stated following discussions that the progressive camp wanted substantive shifts, and a prime minister from the central bloc would not be supported by the French people.

Greens leader Marine Tondelier said she was “stunned” Macron had given minimal offers to the progressives, adding that “all of this is going to turn out very badly”.