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The French leader has called upon his former prime minister to resume duties as head of government a mere four days after he left the post, causing a week of intense uncertainty and instability.

Macron made the announcement towards the end of the week, hours after meeting key political groups in one place at the official residence, excluding the figures of the extremist parties.

The decision to reinstate him was unexpected, as he said on national TV just 48 hours prior that he was not “chasing the job” and his role had concluded.

There is uncertainty whether he will be able to assemble a cabinet, but he will have to hit the ground running. He faces a deadline on the start of the week to put next year's budget before lawmakers.

Political Challenges and Fiscal Demands

The Élysée announced the president had given him the duty of creating a administration, and those close to the president indicated he had been given complete freedom to act.

Lecornu, who is one of a trusted associate, then released a detailed message on social media in which he agreed to take on responsibly the mission assigned by the president, to do everything to provide France with a budget by the December and tackle the daily concerns of our fellow citizens.

Ideological disagreements over how to lower government borrowing and balance the books have caused the resignation of multiple premiers in the past twelve months, so his challenge is enormous.

France's public debt in the past months was almost 114% of gross domestic product – the number three in the eurozone – and this year's budget deficit is projected to reach 5.4% of economic output.

Lecornu said that everyone must contribute the imperative of restoring government accounts. With only 18 months before the end of Macron's presidency, he cautioned that prospective ministers would have to delay their political goals.

Governing Without a Majority

Compounding the challenge for Lecornu is that he will face a parliamentary test in a National Assembly where Macron has lacks sufficient support to back him. Macron's approval reached its lowest point recently, according to research that put his support level on just 14%.

Jordan Bardella of the National Rally party, which was not invited of Macron's talks with faction heads on the end of the week, commented that the prime minister's return, by a president out of touch at the official residence, is a “bad joke”.

They would immediately bring a challenge against a failing government, whose main motivation was fear of an election, he continued.

Building Alliances

The prime minister at least knows the pitfalls in his path as he tries to build a coalition, because he has already used time lately talking to factions that might join his government.

Alone, the centrist parties lack a majority, and there are disagreements within the conservative Republicans who have assisted the ruling coalition since he lost his majority in recent polls.

So Lecornu will seek left-wing parties for future alliances.

In an attempt to court the left, officials hinted the president was thinking of postponing to part of his divisive retirement changes implemented recently which raised the retirement age from the early sixties.

It was insufficient of what left-wing leaders desired, as they were anticipating he would choose a premier from the left. Olivier Faure of the leftist party commented “since we've not been given any guarantees, we won't give any guarantee” for the premier.

Fabien Roussel from the left-wing party said after meeting the president that the left wanted substantive shifts, and a leader from the central bloc would not be accepted by the citizens.

Greens leader the Green figure remarked she was surprised Macron had provided few concessions to the left, adding that “all of this is going to turn out very badly”.