Lecornu says Macron likely to name new PM within 48 hours

Outgoing French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, whose resignation earlier this week deepened France’s political crisis, on Wednesday said that he expects President Emmanuel Macron to appoint a new prime minister within the next 48 hours.

“I feel that a path is possible,” AFP quoted Lecornu as saying to a French television, suggesting that the likelihood of snap legislative elections has diminished.

“I think that the situation allows the president to name a prime minister in the next 48 hours,” he said, while emphasising that he was not “running after” the job.

Amid growing calls for Macron to call early presidential elections to break the political deadlock, Lecornu pushed back, saying it was “not the time to change the president.”

“Let’s not make the French believe that it’s the president who votes the budget,” he said.

Lecornu, France’s fifth prime minister in just two years, resigned along with his cabinet on Monday — only hours after unveiling the new government lineup — marking the shortest tenure of any administration in modern French history.

At President Macron’s request, however, he has since held consultations with political leaders across the centre-left and centre-right to ease tensions and help prevent snap parliamentary elections.

Macron has come under mounting pressure this week to either dissolve parliament or step down, with calls coming from both far-right and hard-left parties, as well as some centrist voices.

But Lecornu said his discussions with lawmakers suggested there was a parliamentary majority opposed to holding early elections.

He ruled himself out as the next prime minister and declined to speculate on who might succeed him, saying that decision rested solely with the president.

With inputs from agencies