French PM Lecornu races against the clock to form government

Paris, France - 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, Oct. 13, requiring key ministerial positions to be filled immediately amid 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 French 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.

These red lines clash directly with left-wing parties whose support Lecornu needs to survive. Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure lamented an "endless day" following Lecornu's reappointment and threatened to vote to topple the government unless the pension reform was suspended in an interview with La Tribune Dimanche.

PM must come up with budget plan to reduce deficit

Lecornu signaled 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.

On Sunday, he was quoted by La Tribune Dimanche as saying: "If the conditions were no longer met again, I’d leave. I’m not going to just go along with whatever."

If Lecornu fails to secure parliamentary support, France would need emergency stop-gap legislation to authorize spending from January 1 until a full budget is adopted - a scenario that occurred last December when Michel Barnier's government fell.

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.

(Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain; Additional reporting by Elizabeth PIneau; Editing by Alex Richardson)