Live: follow the Block Everything day of action, the day after Sébastien Lecornu was appointed Prime Minister

France is preparing for a turbulent day on Wednesday in the wake of the call to "Block Everything" that emerged on social media and is expected to provide a gauge of social anger in a country in the midst of a political crisis.

Blockades of transport infrastructure, symbolic sites, and high schools, demonstrations, and bank card strikes... The day after the appointment of Sébastien Lecornu, who replaced François Bayrou, who had just been ousted from Prime Minister's office, and eight days before a union mobilization, a myriad of actions are planned from dawn in cities, small towns, and the countryside. But the extent of the mobilization remains uncertain.

Some "80,000 gendarmes and police officers" are mobilized and "no blockades" will be tolerated, warned the resigning Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau.

The Paris police chief, Laurent Nuñez, said he expected "punch" actions, the movement having been "taken up by the ultra-left" , but did not think it would mobilise "civil society" .

This horizontal movement, born on social networks and without an identified leader, is reminiscent of the "yellow vest" movement seven years ago, but brings together younger and more politicized people, according to a survey by the Jean Jaurès Foundation.

The new head of government, who succeeds François Bayrou, was notably deputy director of François Fillon's campaign team during the 2017 presidential election.

Cyril Bitton/Divergence for “Le Monde”

Sébastien Lecornu, the new Prime Minister appointed by Emmanuel Macron a few hours after François Bayrou's resignation on Tuesday, September 9, comes from the right: a candidate for the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) in the municipal elections in Vernon in 2008, Sébastien Lecornu then worked with Bruno Le Maire – at the Ministry of Food and then during the regional elections in Normandy in 2010.

In another message , still published on the social network X, the new Prime Minister, Sébastien Lecornu, addresses the French and wishes to "sincerely tell our compatriots that [he] measures their expectations and that [he] knows the difficulties" .

"We are working with humility and we will do everything to achieve this," he said.

The national secretary of the Communist Party, Fabien Roussel, regretted, on the social network X, that Emmanuel Macron had chosen "to appoint someone from his camp again when the demands for change are immense" .

Fabien Roussel did not elaborate further on the choice of the former Minister of the Armed Forces and recalled that "social justice, fiscal justice, peace remain our priorities" and that on September 10 and 18, he wanted to make them "heard all the way to Matignon."

Earlier today, La France Insoumise submitted a new motion for a resolution to the National Assembly to initiate impeachment proceedings against Emmanuel Macron.

However, explains Agence France-Presse, "it seems highly unlikely that such an approach will succeed in the current state of affairs, because the procedure requires a two-thirds majority in both assemblies, then parliamentarians meeting in the High Court."

"Everyone knows that this motion of impeachment is purely for communication purposes, since it would require the Assembly and the Senate to adopt it. Everyone knows that this is completely impossible," commented the first secretary of the Socialist Party, Olivier Faure.

The president of the National Rally, Jordan Bardella, believes that with the appointment of Sébastien Lecornu as prime minister, Emmanuel Macron is not changing his "motto" : "You don't change a losing team," he wrote on the social network X, before asking: "How could a loyal supporter of the president break with the policy he has been pursuing for eight years?"

However, Jordan Bardella asserts that his party will "judge – without illusions – the new prime minister on the facts, on his actions, on his direction in providing a budget for France, and this in the light of our red lines." "Our principles do not vary and the interests of the French people remain our only compass. It is not a question of the person or the casting, but of the policy pursued," he writes.

The leader of the "insoumis" deputies, Mathilde Panot, described the appointment of Sébastien Lecornu, "on the eve of the September 10 movement" , as a "provocation" on the social network X.

"The same policy for the rich, a minority in the Assembly and in the country," she laments, before asserting: "Lecornu, the one who, faced with the "yellow vests" or the Guadeloupeans fighting for the right to water, only responded with repression. The one who dines with Le Pen ."

Mathilde Panot also promises censorship and calls "more than ever tomorrow" to block everything "to make Macron leave".

The new Prime Minister, Sébastien Lecornu, thanked Emmanuel Macron on the social network X "for the confidence he has shown in [him]" by appointing him to this post. He also wished to salute former Prime Minister François Bayrou "for the courage he showed in defending his convictions to the end."

"The President of the Republic has entrusted me with the task of building a government with a clear direction: the defense of our independence and our power, the service of the French people and political and institutional stability for the unity of the country," he wrote, without further details.

With the appointment of Sébastien Lecornu to Matignon, Emmanuel Macron "takes the risk of legitimate social anger and institutional blockage in the country" , denounced the Socialist Party in a press release , which "takes note" of this choice.

"Emmanuel Macron is therefore persisting in a path in which no socialist will participate. The one which has led to failure and disorder and which aggravates the crisis, mistrust and instability," adds the PS, which believes that "without social, fiscal and ecological justice, without measures for purchasing power, the same causes will provoke the same effects."

Sébastien Lecornu "has the qualities" to "discuss" and "find an agreement" with the other political parties, reacted Edouard Philippe, on TF1, after the appointment to Matignon of his former Secretary of State for Ecology (2017-2018) then Minister for Communities (2018-2020).

"Sébastien Lecornu seems to me to have the qualities to try to bring to the table people who will not do exactly what they want, but who will be able to agree to prevent France from getting worse," declared the former Prime Minister, calling on the parties to "compromise" and saying he was "ready" to do so, "with some limits" , judging in particular that "the army budget must be preserved, the police budget, the justice budget, no doubt" .

The president of the Ensemble group in the National Assembly, Gabriel Attal, sent his "wishes of success to Sébastien Lecornu in his new role as Prime Minister" on the social network X.

The former Prime Minister also stated that "in this critical period for the country, it is essential that political forces come together to provide France with a budget, ensure stability for the next eighteen months, and guarantee that order is maintained in our country."

Yesterday, he proposed that Emmanuel Macron "appoint a negotiator who would bring the heads of political parties around the same table, who would look at what brings us together and what minimum budget base would suit us all."

As reported by our colleagues in the sports department , the kick-off of the match between the French team and Iceland will therefore be delayed by three minutes due to current political events.

This isn't the first time Emmanuel Macron's decisions have disrupted the French national team. On June 9, 2024, the President of the Republic announced the dissolution of the friendly match between France and Canada just a few dozen minutes before kickoff. Kickoff wasn't delayed that day, but current events prompted TF1 to broadcast the match with a delay of several minutes.

The new Prime Minister comes from the right: UMP candidate in the municipal elections in Vernon in 2008, Sébastien Lecornu then worked with Bruno Le Maire – at the Ministry of Food and then during the regional elections in Normandy in 2010.

He was elected mayor of Vernon (Les Républicains) in 2014 and then president of the Eure Departmental Council in 2015, under the same label. He then engaged in the presidential campaign in the same party, as deputy director of François Fillon's team.

Appointed Secretary of State in the first government formed after Emmanuel Macron's election in June, he was expelled from the Republicans in October and joined the presidential party La République en Marche. He subsequently held several ministerial positions:

Coming from the right, like his friend Gérald Darmanin, the man who didn't know Emmanuel Macron in 2017 has risen through the ranks of government and holds the record for longevity. Little known to the French, cautious and discreet, the new Prime Minister has skillfully maneuvered, to the point of becoming a key element in the President of the Republic's system.

The leader of the Republicans and resigning Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, said he was ready to "find agreements" with the new Prime Minister in order to build a "national majority" .

"I hope we can find agreements. I believe there is the possibility of building a project that satisfies what I call the national majority," he said as he left a LR political office, "welcoming" that a socialist prime minister had not been appointed.

The transfer of power between François Bayrou and the new Prime Minister, Sébastien Lecornu, will take place at noon on Wednesday at Matignon, government services announced.

The date coincides with a day of mobilization to block the country, launched by various movements.

"This is all a provocation," reacted the secretary general of Europe Ecologie Les Verts, Marine Tondelier, on BFM-TV, shortly after the announcement of Sébastien Lecornu's appointment as prime minister. "Emmanuel Macron is increasingly restricting himself to his inner circle," she believes, before predicting that "this provocation will continue."

For Marine Tondelier, "this is a total disrespect for the French people, who are not respected on a social, environmental and democratic level for the third time in a year" and this "cannot end well" . "I will have an additional reason to be present alongside the demonstrators tomorrow," she said.

As for her participation in the discussions before the government's proposal, Marine Tondelier says she "doubts" that "what we tell him will have any impact on what he does" , but that she will not de facto reject the institutional meeting, and that "if we go there, it will be in extremely blunt terms" .

The leader of La France Insoumise (LFI), Jean-Luc Mélenchon, believes in a message published on the social network X that "Macron's response to the overthrow of Bayrou" is "from now on, it's absolutely the same as before" .

The former presidential candidate declared once again that "only the departure of Macron himself can put an end to this sad comedy of contempt for Parliament, voters, and political decency." Earlier this afternoon, LFI MPs tabled a new motion for a resolution to initiate impeachment proceedings against Emmanuel Macron.