French PM hopeful for end of year budget and talks down prospect of snap election
Caretaker French prime minister Sébastien Lecornu struck a cautiously optimistic tone on Wednesday, saying a deal could be reached on the country’s budget by year-end, making the possibility of a snap election less likely.
Lecornu’s remarks came as he was set to wrap up talks on Wednesday with various parties and report back to president Emmanuel Macron on whether he has found a way to end France’s worst political crisis in decades.
He added that outgoing ministers from his government would not be entitled to compensation after “a certain number of French people” became upset by the prospect.
French outgoing prime minister Sebastien Lecornu leaves after making a statement in the courtyard of the Hotel Matignon in Paris, France, 8 October 2025. Photograph: Stéphanie Lecocq/EPA
The prime minister also said the country’s political situation had halted the process of establishing New Caledonia as a new state.
The overseas territory, home to about 270,000 people was rocked by deadly separatist violence last year and has faced a deadlock between forces loyal to France and those wanting independence.
In July, after 10 days of talks in Paris, various parties agreed to increased sovereignty, under which a “State of New Caledonia” should be created, but would also remain French.
Lecornu said that he would meet Macron later on Wednesday as planned to discuss the results of his meetings with various political parties and see if a deal was possible.
Based on his talks so far, he said he hoped a deal could be reached on bringing France’s budget deficit down to between 4.7% and 5%, from a target of 5.4% in 2025, Reuters reports.
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Russia said on Wednesday that momentum towards reaching a peace deal in Ukraine after the presidential meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in Anchorage, Alaska, had largely “gone”, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.
Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said, according to Russian news agencies:
Unfortunately, we must admit that the powerful momentum generated by Anchorage in favour of agreements … has largely gone.
The father of a victim of Greece’s worst rail disaster has ended a 23-day hunger strike after persuading judicial authorities to examine the precise cause of his son’s death, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.
“The hunger strike ends today,” Panos Ruci, 48, told TV crews on Tuesday in front of parliament, where he had pitched a tent since 15 September.
Ruci’s son Denis was among 57 people, mostly students, who died on the night of 28 February 2023, when a passenger train and a freight train collided near the central city of Larissa.
Some families, backed by experts, suspect that their loved ones were killed by an explosion attributed to undeclared chemicals on board the freight train.
But though several families appealed to hold further tests on the victims’ remains, judicial authorities refused because the official investigation found no signs of illegal cargo on board.
Elsewhere in Europe, Spanish emergency workers on Wednesday recovered the bodies of two missing construction workers in the rubble of a building that collapsed in central Madrid a day earlier, the Associated Press (AP) reports.
The recovery brought the death toll to four.
The top floor of a six-story building under renovation collapsed and pancaked the floors below on Tuesday afternoon.
Emergency workers searched the site overnight with the help of police search dogs and drones, finding the bodies early on Wednesday.
One of the four dead workers was a woman.
Another three workers were injured, with one suffering a fractured leg.
The facade remained standing and apparently stopped most of the debris from reaching the street.
Police are investigating the incident as a workplace accident.
Emergency personnel respond to the scene of a building collapse in Madrid on Tuesday Photograph: Manu Fernández/APWorkers stand on a building at the site of the collapse in central Madrid on Tuesday Photograph: Juan Medina/ReutersShare
Updated at 05.31 EDT
French PM hopeful for end of year budget and talks down prospect of snap election
Caretaker French prime minister Sébastien Lecornu struck a cautiously optimistic tone on Wednesday, saying a deal could be reached on the country’s budget by year-end, making the possibility of a snap election less likely.
Lecornu’s remarks came as he was set to wrap up talks on Wednesday with various parties and report back to president Emmanuel Macron on whether he has found a way to end France’s worst political crisis in decades.
He added that outgoing ministers from his government would not be entitled to compensation after “a certain number of French people” became upset by the prospect.
French outgoing prime minister Sebastien Lecornu leaves after making a statement in the courtyard of the Hotel Matignon in Paris, France, 8 October 2025. Photograph: Stéphanie Lecocq/EPA
The prime minister also said the country’s political situation had halted the process of establishing New Caledonia as a new state.
The overseas territory, home to about 270,000 people was rocked by deadly separatist violence last year and has faced a deadlock between forces loyal to France and those wanting independence.
In July, after 10 days of talks in Paris, various parties agreed to increased sovereignty, under which a “State of New Caledonia” should be created, but would also remain French.
Lecornu said that he would meet Macron later on Wednesday as planned to discuss the results of his meetings with various political parties and see if a deal was possible.
Based on his talks so far, he said he hoped a deal could be reached on bringing France’s budget deficit down to between 4.7% and 5%, from a target of 5.4% in 2025, Reuters reports.
Emmanuel Macron’s second term is set to end in May 2027 and he has repeatedly said he will not resign, the Associated Press (AP) reports.
If the French president were to quit, the Constitutional Council would declare a vacancy, the Senate president would assume interim powers and a new presidential election would be held within 35 days.
On the far left, Melenchon’s France Unbowed has asked for Macron’s departure.
More surprisingly, and a sign of Macron’s growing isolation inside his own camp, Édouard Philippe, Macron’s first prime minister after he swept to power in 2017 and once a close ally, has suggested the president should step down and call an early presidential election once the 2026 budget is adopted.
Since 1958 and the inception of the Fifth Republic, only one French president has resigned: Charles de Gaulle after losing a 1969 referendum.
French prime minister Sébastien Lecornu noted ongoing efforts to establish New Caledonia as a new state, but said political tensions in the country had halted the process.
New Caledonia is an overseas territory that was rocked by deadly separatist violence last year. The territory, home to about 270,000 people, has faced a deadlock between forces loyal to France and those wanting independence.
In July, after 10 days of talks in Paris, various parties agreed to increased sovereignty, under which a “State of New Caledonia” should be created, but would also remain French.
The 13-page agreement announced on Saturday calls for a New Caledonian nationality, and the possibility for residents there to combine that status with French nationality.
Lecornu was reported by Le Monde as saying:
New Caledonia, which may seem far from mainland France but on which, as you know, important texts (…) [are to be adopted] in the coming days, and unfortunately the political situation prevents us from starting the debates and the possible adoption of these texts by the National Assembly and the Senate. This is a major concern.
Lecornu clarified on Wednesday that outgoing ministers from his government would not be entitled to compensation, according to Le Monde.
The resigning prime minister noted in his speech that the topic of compensation for such ministers had upset “a certain number of French people”.
He said:
It turns out that members of the government, when they leave office, are entitled to three months of compensation when they have no other income.
It is obvious that ministers who were ministers for only a few hours will not be entitled to these compensations. I have decided to suspend them.
We cannot want to make savings if we do not also maintain a rule of exemplarity and rigor.
French outgoing prime minister Sebastien Lecornu delivers a statement in the courtyard at the Hotel Matignon in Paris in France, 8 October 2025. Photograph: Stéphanie Lecocq/ReutersShare
Updated at 04.18 EDT
Outgoing French prime minister Sébastien Lecornu said during his speech on Wednesday that the possibility of a dissolution of parliament looked remote, after he held rounds of talks with different political parties, Reuters reports.
He noted that the talks showed a general willingness to get a budget passed by the end of the year.
Lecornu said:
This willingness creates a momentum and a convergence, obviously, which make the possibilities of a dissolution more remote.
French publication Le Monde reported that Lecornu will continue meeting with the Socialist party, the Ecologists and the Communist party this morning to “see what concessions they are asking from other political parties to guarantee this stability, what concessions they are also prepared to make, if necessary, to allow it.”
Updated at 04.29 EDT
Rising political tensions have seen president Emmanuel Macron’s popularity plummeting since the summer of 2024, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.
An opinion poll by Odoxa of more than 1,000 French people published on Monday found that 57% believe the president was “entirely responsible” for Lecornu stepping down, and 70% were in favour of the president’s resignation.
French president Emmanuel Macron looks on at the Senningen Castle in Luxembourg on 3 October 2025. Photograph: Nicolas Tucat/AFP/Getty ImagesShareLecornu says ‘there is a desire’ for a French budget
French prime minister Sébastien Lecornu has said that “there is a desire” for France to have a budget by the end of the year, according to French publication Le Monde.
Speaking at the Matignon Palace, Lecornu said:
I have good reason to tell you that among the good news, all the consultations I have had with the President of the National Assembly, Ms Braun-Pivet, and with the President of the Senate, Gérard Larcher, with all the political parties of the UDI, LIOT, the Republicans, Place publique, MoDem, Horizon, Renaissance and others, that there is a desire to have a budget for France before 31 December of this year.
This desire creates a movement and a convergence, obviously, which removes the prospects of dissolution.
He added that he will present his findings to the country’s president, Emmanuel Macron, later this evening.
Updated at 03.52 EDT
Sébastien Lecornu is the third French prime minister after a set of snap elections last year ended in a hung parliament and increased seats for the far right, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reports.
The premier resigned on Monday just hours after broad rejection of his new cabinet.
France’s president Emmanuel Macron convinced Lecornu to stay on until Wednesday evening to try to form a coalition government able to pass a much-needed austerity budget through parliament, with public debt at an all-time high.
Lercornu is expected to make a public statement on the state of discussions on Wednesday morning, before receiving representatives of the Socialist party.
Macron has said he would “assume his responsibilities” if this failed, appearing to mean early parliamentary elections.
Updated at 04.29 EDT
Lecornu to make speech following resignation
French prime minister Sébastien Lecornu is due to appear shortly in the courtyard at the Matignon Palace.
You can follow the speech in the video feed below:
Outgoing French prime minister Lecornu holds consultations with political parties – watch liveShare
The Guardian has published an editorial on how the political deadlock in France may benefit the country’s far-right factions.
In Jean-Paul Sartre’s 1944 play No Exit, hell is portrayed as a locked room in which characters are condemned to fall out and squabble for all eternity. Ever since foolishly calling a snap election which delivered a deadlocked and divided national assembly, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, has found himself trapped in a modern political version of the same plot.
On Monday morning, the third prime minister Mr Macron has appointed in just over a year became the latest to throw in the towel, after only 27 days in the job. Hours after unveiling his ministerial team, Sébastien Lecornu stood down following a backlash from centre-right allies, who objected to the number of carryovers from François Bayrou’s previous administration. By Monday evening, Mr Macron had persuaded Mr Lecornu to conduct a round of last-ditch negotiations to try to resolve the crisis. Should he fail, the president has hinted that the next step will be a second dissolution of parliament and fresh legislative elections.
Such dizzying chaos and dysfunction is bringing mainstream French politics into disrepute, at a time when Marine Le Pen’s far right National Rally enjoys a substantial lead in the polls. For this ominous state of affairs, Mr Macron bears a heavy responsibility. His centrist alliance lost its outright majority in the parliamentary elections of 2022, and was then defeated by a leftwing coalition in the snap poll he called last year. But he has ploughed on as if nothing had changed, pressuring successive prime ministers to propose unpopular austerity budgets without a mandate.
You can read the full editorial from the Guardian here: The Guardian view on political chaos in France: the gift that keeps on giving to Marine Le Pen and the far right
ShareOpening summary
Good morning and welcome to our coverage of European news.
French prime minister Sébastien Lecornu will make a speech at 9.30am (8.30am British time) on Wednesday in the courtyard at the Matignon Palace, his office said in a statement.
Lecornu had said on Monday after announcing his resignation that he would hold a series of talks with political parties’ leaders by Wednesday.
The speech comes as the country’s president, Emmanuel Macron, faces intense pressure to call snap parliamentary elections or resign as former allies join his opponents in demanding he act to end a spiralling political crisis in the EU’s second biggest economy.
Macron’s first prime minister on Tuesday urged the president to step down amid mounting frustration even within the president’s own camp over one of the worst spells of political chaos in France since the foundation of its Fifth Republic in 1958.
Édouard Philippe, prime minister from 2017 to 2020 and now leader of a Macron-allied party, said he should announce an early presidential election once a budget for next year was adopted.
Macron was re-elected in April 2022 for a five-year term, but since snap legislative elections in 2024 his appointees as prime minister have been unable to summon a parliamentary majority to pass a budget.
Stay with us for all the developments over the day.
Updated at 03.32 EDT