Zürcher Nachrichten - French PM under pressure to put together cabinet

French politics has been in turmoil since President Emmanuel Macron gambled on snap elections last summer in the hopes of bolstering his authority. The move backfired, producing a parliament fractured between three rival blocs.

Lecornu's two immediate predecessors, Francois Bayrou and Michel Barnier, were ousted in a standoff over France's austerity budget in a deeply divided parliament.

In early September, Macron named 39-year-old Lecornu the seventh prime minister of his mandate in a bid to defuse a deepening political crisis. He plumped for one of his closest allies rather than seeking to broaden the appeal of the government across the political spectrum.

For the past three weeks Lecornu has held a series of consultations with centrist allies and opposition leaders on the left and right in a bid to agree a non-aggression pact in parliament and adopt the budget.

No party has enough seats to govern on its own.

Lecornu needs to maintain the support of centre-right Republican lawmakers but they demanded concessions and threatened to withdraw backing.

Members of the Republicans were meeting on Sunday to decide whether to join Lecornu's government, in an apparent move delaying the announcement of the new cabinet.

The Socialists, a key swing group in parliament, are also an important negotiating partner. But they have also demanded concessions and also threatened to withdraw backing.

A Macron ally, who asked not to be named, said the president expected Lecornu to cobble together a cabinet by the end of the weekend, with a lean team of 25 ministers.

The new cabinet lineup must be announced before Lecornu delivers a general policy speech in parliament on Tuesday.

In recent days Lecornu has announced a number of concessions including a pledge not to ram his austerity budget through parliament without a vote, but members of the opposition said they wanted more.

Far-right leader and presidential hopeful Marine Le Pen said she was waiting to hear Lecornu's general policy speech on Tuesday before deciding on any further course of action.

Several left-wing parties including the Greens threatened to put forward a no-confidence motion against Lecornu next week.

The hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) plans to table a motion of no confidence on Tuesday and proposed that Green, Communist and Socialist lawmakers back it.

Greens leader Marine Tondelier said she wants leftist forces to unite in a bid to topple Lecornu.

"We don't really see what else to do," Tondelier said.

O.Meier--NZN