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President Emmanuel Macron has asked his former prime minister to come back as French prime minister just days after he left the post, sparking a period of intense uncertainty and crisis.

The president stated late on Friday, following meeting all the main parties together at the Élysée Palace, omitting the leaders of the extremist parties.

His reappointment was unexpected, as he said on television just 48 hours prior that he was not interested in returning and his “mission is over”.

Doubts remain whether he will be able to form a government, but he will have to hit the ground running. He faces a cut-off on the start of the week to put next year's budget before parliament.

Political Challenges and Economic Pressures

Officials said the president had assigned him to build a cabinet, and Macron's entourage suggested he had been given “carte blanche” to act.

Lecornu, who is one of Macron's closest allies, then issued a detailed message on an online platform in which he consented to responsibly the mission assigned by the president, to make every effort to provide France with a budget by the end of the year and respond to the common issues of our compatriots.

Ideological disagreements over how to reduce government borrowing and reduce the fiscal shortfall have resulted in the fall of multiple premiers in the recent period, so his challenge is enormous.

Government liabilities in the past months was nearly 114 percent of national income – the third largest in the eurozone – and current shortfall is estimated to amount to over five percent of economic output.

The premier said that “no-one will be able to shirk” the imperative of repairing the nation's budget. In just a year and a half before the conclusion of his term, he cautioned that those in the cabinet would have to set aside their political goals.

Ruling Amid Division

Adding to the difficulty for Lecornu is that he will face a parliamentary test in a parliament where the president has no majority to back him. The president's popularity plummeted recently, according to a survey that put his support level on 14%.

Jordan Bardella of the National Rally party, which was not invited of consultations with faction heads on Friday, commented that the prime minister's return, by a president increasingly isolated at the official residence, is a poor decision.

The National Rally would immediately bring a challenge against a failing government, whose only reason for being was avoiding a vote, he continued.

Building Alliances

Lecornu at least knows the pitfalls ahead as he tries to establish a cabinet, because he has already spent two days this week meeting with parties that might join his government.

On their own, the centrist parties cannot form a government, and there are disagreements within the traditionalists who have assisted Macron's governments since he lacked support in recent polls.

So Lecornu will seek left-wing parties for potential support.

To gain leftist support, the president's advisors indicated the president was considering a delay to some aspects of his divisive pension reforms implemented recently which raised the retirement age from 62 up to 64.

The offer was inadequate of what progressive chiefs hoped for, as they were hoping he would select a leader from their camp. The Socialist leader of the leftist party commented without assurances, they would offer no support to back the prime minister.

The Communist figure from the left-wing party said after meeting the president that the progressive camp wanted substantive shifts, and a premier from the president's centrist camp would not be supported by the public.

Environmental party head the Green figure expressed shock Macron had given minimal offers to the progressives, adding that outcomes would be negative.