Sebastien Lecornu named French PM after Bayrou's shock resignation
France has named a new PM amid political upheaval which has led to calls for Emmanuel Macron to quit. Find out who he is and what this means for not just France, but all of Europe.
Sebastien Lecornu, named as France’s new prime minister, has served as defence minister for over three years during much of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and is seen as a deeply loyal, if discreet, ally of President Emmanuel Macron.
Still just 39, Mr Lecornu has been one of the few faces of continuity in the French cabinet at a time of multiple changes of government.
The ultimate Macron loyalist, Mr Lecornu’s survival is a measure of the importance of his job three-and-a-half years into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the trust accorded to him by Macron.
He was reportedly on the brink of being named premier in December 2024. But Francois Bayrou, 74, almost twice Mr Lecornu’s age persuaded Mr Macron that he was the best person for the job.
Mr Lecornu has worked staunchly to keep up assistance for Ukraine, while carefully remaining in the shadows with infrequent media appearances.
One of his key assets for Mr Macron is that he is not what is known in France as “presidentiable”, namely someone who harbours ambitions of winning the Elysee Palace for themselves.
Mr Lecornu is “a loyal soldier who doesn’t have too much charisma or presidential potential,” one ministerial adviser told AFP on condition of anonymity.
WHO IS SEBASTIEN LECORNU?
A career politician, Lecornu started out as a parliamentary assistant aged just 19. He has held ministerial posts ever since Mr Macron came to power in 2017 and was promoted to defence minister in May 2022.
Interested in politics from an early age, Mr Lecornu’s career set records for hitting milestones at an early age, initially with the conservative UMP party of former president Nicolas Sarkozy.
He served as an MP’s assistant from 19 and became France’s youngest-ever ministerial adviser in 2008, joining Bruno Le Maire – later Macron’s long-serving finance minister – on the Europe brief.
In 2015, he was the youngest-ever president of a French department, Eure in Normandy, after serving as mayor of his hometown Vernon.
A graduate in public law rather than the elite administration or business institutions that traditionally shape top French leaders, Mr Lecornu has made sure to keep up his local roots.
But he reached ministerial rank at 31, covering portfolios including the environment and overseas territories before landing at defence.
He is close to Mr Macron’s longtime interior minister and now Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin, a fellow transplant to the centrist camp from the traditional right Lecornu has the advantage of “looking more serious than his age” in a French political scene still dominated by older men, one MP aligned with Macron’s supporters told AFP.
He notched up points with Mr Macron by helping organise the Great Debates the president held with local elected officials to defuse the “yellow vests” cost-of-living protests of 2018-19.
WHY DOES FRANCE HAVE A NEW PM?
French President Emmanuel Macron accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Francois Bayrou after his government was ejected in a confidence vote, with the French leader rushing to find a successor and stave off a new political crisis.
Mr Bayrou suffered a crushing loss in a confidence vote he had himself called, plunging France into fresh uncertainty and leaving Mr Macron with the task of finding the seventh premier of his mandate.
The French presidency said in a statement that Mr Macron “took note” of the outcome and said he would name a new premier “in the next days”, ending any remaining speculation that the president could instead call snap elections.
Mr Bayrou had blindsided even his allies by calling a confidence vote to end a lengthy standoff over his austerity budget, which foresaw almost 44 billion euros ($52 billion) of cost savings to reduce France’s debt pile.
In the vote in the National Assembly, 364 deputies voted that they had no confidence in the government while just 194 gave it their confidence. “In line with article 50 of the constitution, the prime minister must submit the resignation of his government,” said speaker Yael Braun-Pivet.
Mr Bayrou was the sixth prime minister under Macron since his 2017 election but the fifth since 2022.
According to a poll by Odoxa-Backbone for Le Figaro newspaper, 64 per cent of the French want Mr Macron to resign rather than name a new prime minister, a move he has ruled out.
He is forbidden from standing for a third term in 2027.
Alongside political upheaval, France is also facing social tensions. A left-wing collective named “Block Everything” is calling for a day of action on Wednesday, and trade unions have urged workers to strike on September 18.
The 2027 presidential election meanwhile remains wide open, with analysts predicting the French far-right will have its best-ever chance of winning.
Three-time presidential candidate for the National Rally (RN) Marine Le Pen suffered a blow in March when a French court convicted her and other party officials over an EU parliament fake jobs scam.
Le Pen was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment, two of which were suspended, and also banned her from standing for office for five years, which would scupper her ambition of taking part in the 2027 vote — unless overturned on appeal.
A Paris court said Monday her appeal would be heard from January 13 to February 12, 2026, well before the election — potentially resurrecting her presidential hopes.
Cheered by her MPs, Le Pen urged Mr Macron to call snap legislative elections, saying holding the polls is “not an option but an obligation”.
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Originally published as Sebastien Lecornu named French PM after Bayrou's shock resignation
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