Emmanuel Macron Is Playing Russian Roulette With His Legacy

French President Emmanuel Macron’s latest political gamble is bordering on insanity: Trying the same thing but expecting different results. Sebastien Lecornu, the prime minister whose government broke records last week after collapsing within 14 hours, has been reappointed sans some of the more controversial ministerial picks from last time. As before, the aim is to court the center-left with policy concessions, avert snap elections and pass a budget that will achieve stability on the road to 2027 presidential elections. What’s changed is Macron’s apparent willingness to put his reform legacy on the line to get there. It may not be enough.

Survival for 39-year-old Lecornu’s cabinet of political exiles and technocrats boils down to 25 votes, or about a third of the center-left Socialists’ parliamentary seats. That’s all it would take in theory to topple the government, assuming they’re added to no-confidence votes from Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally; the rump of center-right Gaullists that are allied with her; the far-left France Unbowed; the communists; and the Greens. Hence why a lot depends on Lecornu’s freedom of action in tacking left – he supposedly has a “blank check” from Macron to nip, tuck or scrap his reformist legacy.