Defense minister and longtime Macron ally has become France's new prime minister

French President Emmanuel Macron has appointed a new prime minister to replace François Bayrou, whom the National Assembly passed a vote of no confidence the previous day. The government will be headed by Sebastien Lecornu, who previously headed the Defense Ministry, the Elysee Palace said.

Macron asked Lecornu to hold talks with all political forces in parliament before appointing the government to find a compromise on the budget and other issues, the report said. Reuters notes that such an arrangement is unusual in French politics.

The new prime minister is a longtime Macron ally, Bloomberg notes. He is the only minister to have served continuously in the government since becoming president in 2017. The 39-year-old official is known as one of the most ardent supporters of Macron's efforts to boost France's military strength, including by sharply increasing the army's budget.

Lecornu will become France's fifth cabinet chief in two years. One of his first major tests will be the adoption of the 2026 budget. The two previous prime ministers lost their posts after trying to adopt programs aimed at drastically reducing France's budget deficit, which is almost double the EU's ceiling of 3% of GDP. To avoid the same fate, the new prime minister will have to quickly rewrite fiscal plans to win the support of some of Macron's political opponents, Bloomberg writes.

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