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The French leader has requested Sébastien Lecornu to return as the nation's premier only four days after he left the post, causing a week of high drama and instability.

Macron made the announcement towards the end of the week, hours after consulting with key political groups together at the official residence, omitting the leaders of the political extremes.

Lecornu's return came as a surprise, as he declared on national TV only two days ago that he was not “chasing the job” 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. The new prime minister faces a time limit on the start of the week to submit financial plans before parliament.

Political Challenges and Economic Pressures

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

The prime minister, who is one of the president's key supporters, then released a long statement on social media in which he consented to “out of duty” the mission entrusted to me by the president, to strive to secure a national budget by the December and address the everyday problems of our fellow citizens.

Political divisions over how to lower France's national debt and cut the budget deficit have caused the fall of several leaders in the past twelve months, so his mission is enormous.

Government liabilities earlier this year was almost 114% of national income – the third largest in the currency union – and this year's budget deficit is projected to reach over five percent of GDP.

The premier stated that no one can avoid the necessity of fixing France's public finances. Given the limited time before the end of Macron's presidency, he advised that those in the cabinet would have to put on hold their political goals.

Leading Without Support

Adding to the difficulty for the prime minister is that he will face a show of support in a parliament where Macron has lacks sufficient support to endorse his government. The president's popularity reached its lowest point recently, according to research that put his support level on just 14%.

The far-right leader of the far-right National Rally, which was excluded of Macron's talks with faction heads on the end of the week, said that the prime minister's return, by a president increasingly isolated at the presidential palace, is a misstep.

The National Rally would quickly propose a challenge against a doomed coalition, whose only reason for being was fear of an election, Bardella added.

Seeking Support

Lecornu at least understands the obstacles ahead as he tries to build a coalition, because he has already devoted 48 hours recently meeting with parties that might participate in his administration.

By themselves, the central groups are insufficient, and there are disagreements within the traditionalists who have helped prop up the administration since he lacked support in the previous vote.

So he will seek progressive groups for possible backing.

To gain leftist support, Macron's team indicated the president was thinking of postponing to some aspects of his controversial retirement changes enacted last year which increased the pension age from 62 to 64.

It was insufficient of what progressive chiefs wanted, as they were hoping he would choose a leader from their side. The Socialist leader of the leftist party said without assurances, they would offer no support to back the prime minister.

The Communist figure from the left-wing party commented post-consultation that the progressive camp wanted genuine reform, and a prime minister from the central bloc would not be endorsed by the citizens.

Environmental party head the Green figure remarked she was surprised Macron had provided few concessions to the progressives, adding that outcomes would be negative.