“And this willingness creates movement and convergence, obviously, which makes the prospect of dissolution [of parliament] more remote,” he said in a statement in the courtyard of his Paris residence at the Hôtel Matignon.
The outgoing prime minister then began talks with Socialist leaders. He is due to go on French TV at 20:00 local time (18:00 GMT) to give details of whether he had found a solution.
His best hope appears to be some kind of political pact to prevent any new government being thrown out in a confidence vote.
Commentators and officials said Lecornu’s TV appearance meant it was unlikely President Emmanuel Macron would himself give an address.
Lecornu’s shock resignation on Monday left France in renewed political turmoil, 18 months before the end of Macron’s second term in office. Macron’s decision to call snap elections in mid-2024 left France with a hung parliament and a succession of minority governments.
Lecornu was in the job for only 26 days before his government fell apart, triggered by criticism from the leader of the conservative Republicans, Bruno Retailleau.
Macron then gave the outgoing prime minister 48 hours to find a way out of the crisis.
After talks with Lecornu on Wednesday, Socialist leader Olivier Faure appeared to rule out any chance of his centre-left party joining the next government.
“The budget plan, the way it was presented today, is a budget plan that we cannot be part of… and a joint government with Macron’s [allies] is unimaginable,” he told reporters.
That does not mean the Socialists would try to bring down a new government, which the hard-right National Rally of Marine Le Pen and radical left would be likely to try. Le Pen, whose party leads in the polls, has called on Macron to “seriously consider” dissolving parliament and holding new parliamentary elections.
Overnight there were suggestions that Lecornu could secure centre-left support if the government suspended highly contested pension reforms that raised the retirement age from 62 to 64. However, outgoing Finance Minister Roland Lescure warned that would cost France hundreds of millions of euros this year, and billions more in 2026, when the country is trying to cut its budget deficit.
France’s public debt earlier this year was almost 114% of economic output (GDP), and this year’s budget deficit is projected to hit 5.4% of GDP.
Without Socialist involvement in the next government, Lecornu’s best hope is to cobble together a revitalised centrist cabinet with the Republicans – known as the socle commun – or common platform.
The Republicans have so far made clear they will not join a left-led government, but their return to government with the Macronists is not definite either.
