Macron Picks Sébastien Lecornu as France’s Next Prime Minister

President Emmanuel Macron of France on Tuesday chose Sébastien Lecornu, a loyal ally and the departing defense minister, to be France’s next prime minister, a little over 24 hours after the country’s government collapsed on a no-confidence vote.

The swift appointment reflects the immense pressure Mr. Macron faces as he struggles to control France’s political turmoil and to get a crucial budget passed by the end of the year to rein in ballooning debt.

It also suggested that Mr. Macron wanted to avoid a vacancy of power at the highest levels of the French government ahead of street protests that are expected on Wednesday and that are aimed against him and proposed austerity measures.

Mr. Lecornu, 39, is now the fifth prime minister of Mr. Macron’s second term, which started in 2022. He is also the third since the snap parliamentary elections the French president unexpectedly called last year. The abrupt shifts represent a level of persistent instability that is unheard-of in France’s modern-day Fifth Republic.

Mr. Macron’s office said in a statement that he had asked Mr. Lecornu to consult the political forces represented in Parliament “in view of adopting a budget for the nation and building the agreements essential for decisions in the coming months.”

After those discussions, Mr. Lecornu will be asked to propose members of the new cabinet, the statement added.

“The prime minister’s actions will be guided by the defense of our independence and of our power, service to the French people, and political and institutional stability for the unity of the country,” the statement said. “The president of the Republic is convinced that, on this basis, agreement between the political forces is possible while respecting each other’s opinions.”

Mr. Lecornu’s immediate predecessor, François Bayrou, another centrist ally of Mr. Macron’s, had come to office just nine months ago, shortly after a government collapse. with the urgent task of passing a budget for 2025, which he ultimately did.

But for next year’s budget, Mr. Bayrou had decided that a confidence vote could jolt the country into understanding the gravity of the country’s financial woes and the necessity of at least $51 billion in cost cutting.