Macron appoints Defense Minister Lecornu as Prime Minister

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, AP reported.

Lecornu, 39, was the youngest defense minister in French history.

Legislators toppled Lecornu’s predecessor François Bayrou, who was appointed last December, and his government in a no-confidence vote on Monday. His minority government called for €44bn (£38bn) of budget cuts to tackle France's mounting public debt. The French government says that public debt stood at €3,345 billion, or 114% of GDP, in early 2025, according to the BBC. That is the third highest public debt in the eurozone after Greece and Italy, and equivalent to almost €50,000 per French citizen, according to the BBC. Bayrou is among those French politicians who wanted to slash the deficit by redefining generous social programmes - such as state pensions. However there is much opposition to cuts - politicians on the left have called for tax rises, rather than budget cuts.