Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu speaks to journalists after his visit to the L'Haÿ-les-Roses police station in the Paris region on October 11, 2025. JULIEN MUGUET FOR LE MONDE
For the second Sunday in a row, on October 12, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu appointed a government. This unprecedented oddity under France's Fifth Republic arose from the absence of a parliamentary majority in the Assemblée Nationale since the June 2024 snap elections called by President Emmanuel Macron.
The arrival at the prime minister's office of Lecornu, a close ally of Macron, set off a cascade of political twists and turns, from attempts to bring the Socialists on board, to Lecornu's surprise resignation, to the implosion of the alliance between the centrists and the conservatives. Here is a look back at the most turbulent week of Macron's second term.
Friday, October 3: Two senior civil servants on a mission
On Friday, October 3, Lecornu once again summoned opposition parties to his office for a "last-chance meeting," which would in fact be followed by several more. At this stage of negotiations, the left only wanted to talk about Gabriel Zucman's proposed wealth tax.
