French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu faces a race against time to form a government by Monday's budget deadline, as divisions emerged within the conservative Les Republicains party over whether to accept ministerial posts in his cabinet.

Just two days after being reappointed, Lecornu must present a draft budget bill to cabinet and parliament on Monday, requiring key ministerial positions to be filled immediately during France's deepest political crisis in decades.

The LR party's governing body said on Saturday that "the trust and conditions are not in place" to join Lecornu's government, yet a majority of the party's lower house members favour taking cabinet positions to influence the budget, according to Le Monde newspaper.

PENSION REFORM A RED LINE FOR LEFT AND RIGHT

Former Prime Minister Michel Barnier, a prominent LR figure and member of the lower house, laid out strict conditions for potential participation of his party in the government, including maintaining President Emmanuel Macron's controversial pension reform that raised the retirement age to 64.

"Our support must remain demanding and faithful to the battles we are waging for the French," Barnier wrote on X on Saturday, listing deficit reduction, pension reform maintenance, security measures and business competitiveness as non-negotiable conditions.

Centrist party UDI said it would support the new government but ruled out taking part in it, while Horizons, a close ally of Macron’s party in parliament, said it would not join a cabinet that backed suspending the pension reform.

PM MUST COME UP WITH BUDGET PLAN TO REDUCE DEFICIT

Lecornu signalled potential flexibility on this issue on Saturday, saying "all debates are possible as long as they are realistic" when asked about suspending the pension reform.

The prime minister must navigate these contradictory demands while assembling a cabinet capable of presenting a credible budget plan to reduce France's deficit from 5.4% of GDP this year to between 4.7% and 5% next year.

"I am setting myself a fairly clear mission, and then either the political forces will help me and we will work together to achieve it, or they will not," Lecornu said on Saturday.

Lecornu has pledged a cabinet of "renewal and diversity" but has yet to announce any appointments with barely 24 hours remaining before the constitutional deadline.

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