Macron reappoints Lecornu as French prime minister

On October 10, 2026, French President Emmanuel Macron reappointed Sébastien Lecornu as prime minister after the collapse of his previous short-lived cabinet, tasking him with forming the Second Lecornu government – the 48th of the Fifth Republic. The move extended one of the most turbulent governmental sequences in modern French history: Lecornu was first appointed in September 2025 after François Bayrou's fall, resigned less than a day after unveiling his first cabinet, was reappointed in days, and now returns at the head of a reshuffled team. The new government inherits a bruising fight over the belt-tightening 2027 budget, which proposes frozen public-sector wages, new taxes and a cut in diesel subsidies. Students and high-school pupils have led weeks of near-daily protests against under-resourced schools and reforms, with hundreds detained. Lecornu, in a televised address earlier in the week, said the government was 'not indifferent' to young people's demands. Analysts said the reappointment underscores Macron's narrow room for maneuver with a fragmented National Assembly and declining popularity. Reported by France 24, Euronews and PBS NewsHour.