French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday appointed Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu as new prime minister and tasked him with immediately trying to get the country’s fractious political parties to agree on a budget for one of the world’s biggest economies.
Lecornu, 39, was the youngest defense minister in French history and architect of a major military buildup through 2030, spurred by Russia’s war in Ukraine. A longtime Macron loyalist, Lecornu is now France’s fourth prime minister in barely a year.
A former conservative who joined Macron’s centrist movement in 2017, Lecornu has held posts in local governments, overseas territories and during Macron’s yellow vest “great debate,” when he helped manage mass anger with dialogue. He also offered talks on autonomy during unrest in Guadeloupe in 2021.
His rise reflects Macron’s instinct to reward loyalty, but also the need for continuity as repeated budget showdowns have toppled his predecessors and left France in drift.
A massive fire ripped through high-rise residential buildings in Hong Kong on Nov. 26, killing dozens...
In March 2006, the Harvard Kennedy School published a working paper, “The Israel Lobby and U.S....
Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff told a senior Kremlin official last month that achieving peace...
Charges will be filed against a teenager suspected of partaking in a large-scale arson attack this...
