The president of France, Emmanuel Macron, appointed Sebastien Lecornu as the new prime minister, the fifth in less than two years, his office reported on Tuesday. Macron made the appointment one day after his last prime minister, François Bayrou, was dismissed in a motion of parliamentary trust for his efforts to cut public spending.
Bayrou’s successor will have the difficult task of carrying out a budget in a conflicting and deeply divided Parliament. France is under pressure to reduce a deficit that almost doubles the maximum limit of 3% established by the European Union and a debt equivalent to 114% of GDP.
French companies are concerned about the impact of the political crisis. “The fall of the government adds to months of political instability that have already undermined economic trust,” said Maya Noëlof the technological lobby France Digitale. “In the innovation sector, this instability has an immediate cost: it slows investment and hiring.”
The country was also preparing for the so -called protests of “we block everything” on Wednesday, which have proliferated in social networks in a potential echo of the manifestations of the “yellow vests” against Macron that shook the country in 2018. Protesters do not have centralized leadership, which means that it is difficult to evaluate how large or disturbing can be manifestations.
