France’s
Lecornu outlines end-of-mandate agenda, rules out running for president
The
French prime minister will publish France’s multi-annual energy strategy by the
end of the week.
February
8, 2026 1:44 pm CET
By
Giorgio Leali
PARIS —
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu this weekend announced his working plan
for the rest of his mandate and made clear once again that he is not planning
to run in next year's presidential election.
"2026
will be a productive year for the French. We will focus on the
essentials," Lecornu wrote in a social media post on Sunday. "On
these issues, we cannot wait until the presidential election," he added.
After
finally passing the 2026 budget last week, Lecornu now wants to deal with
pressing files that remained on hold because of prolonged budget debates.
In an
interview with several French local newspapers published on Saturday, Lecornu
announced that in the coming days his government will finally present the
long-overdue energy programming law, a text that outlines France's energy
strategy until 2035 and which is coming more than two years late.
Lecornu
said that the text would be adopted as a government decree by the end of the
week. It will confirm the construction of six new nuclear reactors, with the
option of building eight more, and set the goal of having 60 percent of energy
consumption coming from electricity by 2030.
The prime
minister also announced an update to the country's multi-annual military
programming law to reflect a €6.5 billion increase in defense spending in 2026.
Lecornu's
priorities include a reform to redefine the division of power between the
central government, measures to fight the shortage of doctors and housing. The
government on Sunday adopted new measures to fight fraud in the the existing
health-care assistance mechanism for irregular foreigners — which the far-right
National Rally wants to abolish.
As the
race for succeeding to French President Emmanuel Macron in 2027 heats up,
Lecornu repeated that he was not planning to run. He also confirmed that he
will conduct a government reshuffle before the end of the so-called reserve
period ahead of France's municipal election, which means by Feb. 22.
Culture
Minister Rachida Dati, who is running for mayor of Paris, is expected to quit
the government together with other ministers.
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