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The French leader has requested his former prime minister to come back as head of government just days after he left the post, sparking a stretch of high drama and political turmoil.

Macron declared on Friday evening, hours after meeting leading factions together at the Élysée Palace, omitting the representatives of the far right and far left.

Lecornu's return was unexpected, as he declared on national TV 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 start immediately. He faces a time limit on the start of the week to submit financial plans before parliament.

Political Challenges and Budgetary Strains

The presidency announced the president had “tasked [Lecornu] with forming a government”, and Macron's entourage suggested 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 agreed to take on as an obligation the task given to him by the president, to make every effort to provide France with a budget by the year's conclusion and address the everyday problems of our countrymen.

Partisan conflicts over how to bring down government borrowing and balance the books have resulted in the fall of several leaders in the last year, so his task is daunting.

Government liabilities in the past months was close to 114% of national income – the number three in the eurozone – and current shortfall is estimated to reach 5.4 percent of economic output.

Lecornu stated that “no-one will be able to shirk” the imperative of repairing government accounts. In just a year and a half before the end of Macron's presidency, he cautioned that those in the cabinet would have to delay their aspirations for higher office.

Leading Without Support

Adding to the difficulty for the prime minister is that he will face a vote of confidence in a parliament where Macron has no majority to endorse his government. His public standing reached its lowest point recently, according to research that put his support level on 14 percent.

The far-right leader of the far-right National Rally, which was left out of the president's discussions with faction heads on Friday, remarked that the decision, by a president out of touch at the Élysée, is a “bad joke”.

The National Rally would quickly propose a vote of no confidence against a struggling administration, whose main motivation was avoiding a vote, the leader stated.

Building Alliances

Lecornu at least understands the obstacles ahead as he tries to establish a cabinet, because he has already devoted 48 hours this week meeting with political groups that might support him.

By themselves, the moderate factions cannot form a government, and there are disagreements within the conservative Republicans who have assisted the ruling coalition since he failed to secure enough seats in elections last year.

So he will look to left-wing parties for future alliances.

As a gesture to progressives, officials suggested the president was thinking of postponing to portions of his divisive social security adjustments implemented recently which increased the pension age from 62 up to 64.

That fell short of what progressive chiefs wanted, as they were hoping he would choose a leader from the left. Olivier Faure of the leftist party commented without assurances, they would offer no support in a vote of confidence.

Fabien Roussel from the Communists said after meeting the president that the progressive camp wanted genuine reform, and a premier from the central bloc would not be endorsed by the French people.

Greens leader the Green figure said she was “stunned” the president had offered the left almost nothing to the left, adding that the situation would deteriorate.