Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu at the Élysée, in Paris, November 13, 2024 (AFP / Ludovic MARIN)
The Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu, whose name is mentioned to become Prime Minister to replace Michel Barnier whose government was overthrown on Wednesday, assured Thursday that he is not a candidate.
“Me, I am a candidate for nothing,” he declared to RTL who questioned him on the subject.
Michel Barnier, overthrown on Wednesday evening by 331 deputies, presented his resignation on Thursday.
Sébastien Lecornu also claims not to have raised the subject with President Emmanuel Macron during their trip to Saudi Arabia.
“There is a huge gap (…) between what we had to manage in Saudi Arabia and what we have to manage here,” he declared, citing the various geopolitical issues of the escalation with Iran to the ceasefire in Lebanon, including the arrival of soldiers from North Korea in the Russian-Ukrainian theater.
“Yes, we have a world that is anything but stable and in which French political leaders will also have to take their responsibilities,” he added.
In terms of domestic politics, he felt that it was necessary “to do everything so that the socialists break away from La France insoumise” (radical left).
“I do not come from the left, but I am a republican,” he stressed, specifying that he worked “with the republican left” in his department of Eure.
“I think that there must actually be a dialogue, because the responsibility of my political family, where I come from, is to allow the Socialist Party to evolve in its position,” he also opined. Sébastien Lecornu. “In any case, it is an emergency because it is a government party which has given two Presidents of the Republic to France.”
Asked about the need to make concessions, he declared that “the French, once they have voted in the early legislative elections, by definition, cannot understand that their political leaders are not capable of compromise”.
