- French President Emmanuel Macron has appointed Sébastien Lecornu as the nation's new Prime Minister, following the no-confidence vote that ousted Francois Bayrou.
- Lecornu, previously the Defense Minister and a long-standing Macron loyalist, is France's fourth Prime Minister in barely a year.
- His immediate and primary task is to secure agreement among fractious political parties on the national budget, a critical challenge given France's significant public debt.
- The appointment precedes a planned 'Block Everything' protest movement, prompting the deployment of 80,000 police officers to maintain order.
- Aged 39, Lecornu has a background in local government, previously managed the 'yellow vest' protests, and championed a substantial military spending increase.
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