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.
Yemen’s Houthis have claimed responsibility for the recent drone and missile strikes on Saudi Aramco facilities in Dhahran and Riyadh and at ...
Ukraine's soldiers have had their access to Starlink satellite internet restricted. Kyiv's troops use the terminals, made by Elon Musk...
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and his Israeli counterpart, Isaac Herzog, met on 14 October to discuss bilateral ties and key regional and inte...
Yemen’s Houthis have claimed responsibility for the recent drone and missile strikes on Saudi Aramco facilities in Dhahran and Riyadh and at King Khalid International Airport in Saudi Arabia, vowing to carry out more attacks in the coming days.
The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said late Monday that it intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles launched by the Houthi group toward Khamis Mushait in southwestern Saudi Arabia.
Thousands of young Georgians leave the country each year in search of better economic opportunities, with many moving west. As questions grow over Georgia’s European path, AnewZ spoke to people who have emigrated about what it would take for them to return.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia hit at least six energy targets in deadly strikes across Ukraine, showing Moscow is unwilling to accept the energy ceasefire announced by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Ukraine's soldiers have had their access to Starlink satellite internet restricted. Kyiv's troops use the terminals, made by Elon Musk's SpaceX, to pilot drones. A source in Ukraine's Defence Ministry said the restrictions would make it harder for Kyiv's army to down Russian drones.
Ukraine's soldiers have had their access to Starlink satellite internet restricted. Kyiv's troops use the terminals, made by Elon Musk's SpaceX, to pilot drones. A source in Ukraine's Defence Ministry said the restrictions would make it harder for Kyiv's army to down Russian drones.
A 62-year-old man died on Wednesday after floodwaters swept his car into the sea on the Greek island of Rhodes, as torrential rain flooded roads, stranded vehicles and disrupted transport across the island.
A failure by the U.S. and Iran to reach an agreement on a UN-backed fertiliser shipping plan for the Strait of Hormuz within weeks could trigger a food security crisis in parts of Asia and Africa, a senior UN official has warned.
Pope Leo has been diagnosed with lung adenocarcinoma, the most common type of lung cancer, after surgeons removed the lower lobe of his right lung. The Vatican says the tumour was detected during a routine health check, but its stage and whether it has spread remain unknown.
Greek students braved heavy rain to pitch tents outside parliament in Athens on Tuesday, demanding affordable housing and more education funding as rising living costs put university places beyond the reach of some students.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment