Sébastien Lecornu chooses the theme of health for his first visit as Prime Minister

The new Prime Minister, Sébastien Lecornu, visits the departmental health center in Mâcon, in east-central France, on September 13, 2025. (Photo by JEFF PACHOUD / AFP) JEFF PACHOUD / AFP

Sébastien Lecornu is making his first trip as Prime Minister to Mâcon on Saturday, focusing on the health and "daily life" of the French people, leaving aside for a few hours the consultations he is actively conducting in Paris before forming a government.

Barely four days after his appointment, the new and young (39-year-old) occupant of Matignon is going to meet the French people, for whom he still remains largely unknown. He arrived around 10:15 a.m. at the departmental health center in Mâcon (Saône-et-Loire), where he is expected to discuss with employees the measures to improve access to care.

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This first trip also takes place the day after the Fitch agency downgraded France's debt rating , while Sébastien Lecornu's first task will be to construct a budget for 2026 by slowing the widening of deficits.

Himself a local elected official from Eure, where he was mayor, department president and senator, this son of a medical secretary and an aeronautics technician had assured from the evening of his nomination that he "measured the expectations" of his fellow citizens and "the difficulties" they encountered.

These are often "unbearable" to access a doctor or a health professional, sometimes "a source of anxiety" , underlines his entourage. The Prime Minister intends in this context "to demonstrate the Nation's recognition towards healthcare workers" and "to reaffirm the government's desire to facilitate access to care" .

He thus promised to build a network of "France Santé" centers by 2027 that will provide all French people with healthcare services within about 30 minutes of their homes. "We must have a local healthcare offering by catchment area at a minimum, and therefore generally something around 30 minutes from your home," he declared. Sébastien Lecornu is aiming for 5,000 "France Santé" centers by 2027, which will be designed on the model of "France Services" centers, which offer a one-stop shop for various administrative procedures.

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Convince

Sébastien Lecornu also aims to convince public opinion, as well as political forces, of the merits of his method: finding common ground, particularly on the budget, to allow him to govern without a majority in the National Assembly. He is expected to clarify his priorities in an interview with the regional press on Saturday.

Known at the Ministry of the Armed Forces for his sober, even rare, speech, Sébastien Lecornu is very close to Emmanuel Macron, with whom he had another long lunch on Friday at the Elysée Palace.

His appointment coincides with several social movements. On the day he took office, a social media mobilization to "shut down" the country brought together 200,000 protesters, and another day of demonstrations called by unions is planned for Thursday.

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"There is a lot of anger" among employees, reported Marylise Léon, the general secretary of the CFDT, France's largest union, after an interview Friday with the new Prime Minister, who told her he was working on a "contribution from the highest incomes" in the 2026 budget.

It was over the budget that his two predecessors, François Bayrou and Michel Barnier, fell. And Sébastien Lecornu is primarily seeking some form of agreement with the Socialists.

The center and right of the government coalition say they are ready to tax the ultra-rich more heavily without going as far as introducing the Zucman tax on the highest net worth, a flagship measure promoted by the left and which LR does not want.

Such a measure would in any case mark one of the "breaks" advocated by Sébastien Lecornu upon his arrival, since it would break the taboo of Macron's tax increases.

Change of method?

Sébastien Lecornu also wants changes in method . He first brought together on Thursday - for the first time in a long time - the leaders of the "common base" parties, Renaissance, Horizons, MoDem and Les Républicains, so that they could agree on some common priorities.

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Emmanuel Macron, here during a press conference, June 12, 2024, after the dissolution of the National Assembly.

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Interview with Philippe Brun, Socialist Party MP: "The appointment of Sébastien Lecornu is a sign of a regime at the end of its tether"

Convince

Known at the Ministry of the Armed Forces for his sober, even rare, speech, Sébastien Lecornu is very close to Emmanuel Macron, with whom he had another long lunch on Friday at the Elysée Palace.

Also read

Report In the procession of September 10 in Dunkirk: "Lecornu is trying the same thing, and expecting different results"

It was over the budget that his two predecessors, François Bayrou and Michel Barnier, fell. And Sébastien Lecornu is primarily seeking some form of agreement with the Socialists.

Such a measure would in any case mark one of the "breaks" advocated by Sébastien Lecornu upon his arrival, since it would break the taboo of Macron's tax increases.

Change of method?

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A "party presidents" format which "allows us to work in confidence, in a more direct way, to exchange on political ideas, on arbitrations" , welcomes one participant.

Ahead of the opposition and a few days before a second day of demonstrations, he consulted with social partners, receiving the CFDT and MEDEF on Friday, before the CGT on Monday.

In search of a compromise to pass the budget, the head of government could return to the plan of his predecessor François Bayrou, stripped of its most controversial measures, such as the elimination of two public holidays.

The possibility of resuming the pensions conclave also appears to have been abandoned. The social partners are refusing to reopen it anyway.

Gestures are expected towards the socialists while at the Elysée, it is believed that the National Rally, the largest group in the National Assembly, is now aligned, like France Insoumise, on the side of "dégagisme" .

By The New Obs with AFP

Le Nouvel Observateur

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