President Emmanuel Macron has asked Sébastien Lecornu to return as French prime minister only four days after he stood down from the post.
Macron made the announcement late on Friday, hours after meeting all the main parties together at the Élysée Palace, except the leaders of the far right and far left.
The Élysée said the president had “tasked [Lecornu] with forming a government” and Macron’s entourage indicated he had been given “carte blanche” to act.
Lecornu, who is 39 and one of Macron’s most loyal allies, released a long statement on X in which he accepted “out of duty the mission entrusted to me by the president, to do everything to provide France with a budget by the end of the year and respond to the everyday problems of our compatriots”.
BBC/Jide Johnson.