STORY: Outgoing French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, who has been tasked with last-ditch budget talks, said on Wednesday (October 8) that fresh elections were looking less likely, with parties showing a desire to approve a budget by the end of the year.

Lecornu met on Tuesday with centrist and right-wing parties in the parliament, along with parliamentary leaders, and was to hold talks with the left on Wednesday morning.

He added he will meet President Emmanuel Macron later on Wednesday evening to discuss the results of his talks with political parties.

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VIDEO SHOWS: OUTGOING FRENCH PRIME MINISTER SEBASTIEN LECORNU MAKING STATEMENT TO MEDIA

FULL SCRIPT TO FOLLOW

SHOWS: PARIS, FRANCE (OCTOBER 8, 2025) (AGENCY POOL - Access all)

1. (SOUNDBITE) (French) OUTGOING FRENCH PRIME MINISTER SEBASTIEN LECORNU SAYING:

"Hello everyone. Thank you for being here for this brief press update on the method after the first 24 hours of consultations I’ve had with a number of political forces represented in the National Assembly and the Senate, a few days after the government’s resignation, following a series of partisan issues, which I won’t go back over, and for which I accepted the mission entrusted to me by the President (Emmanuel Macron) given the past three weeks of discussions, negotiations, parameters of the fundamentals of the budget parameters and other topics, the goal is to try to find a path forward. This evening, I will go to the Elysee Palace to present to the President the solutions that are on the table, if we manage to find any."

2. WHITE FLASH

3. (SOUNDBITE) (French) OUTGOING FRENCH PRIME MINISTER SEBASTIEN LECORNU SAYING:

"And while there’s been a lot in the press, especially yesterday, I have good reason to tell you that, among the positive developments, all the consultations I’ve had — with the President of the National Assembly, Yael Braun-Pivet, with the President of the Senate, Gerard Larcher, and with all the political groups from the UDI, LIOT, the Republicans, Place Publique, MoDem, Horizons, Renaissance, and others — show a shared will to ensure that France has a budget before December 31 of this year. This shared will is creating momentum and convergence, which clearly moves us away from the prospect of dissolution. But that alone is not enough. The budget must, of course, include a number of parameters that allow France to move forward on that basis."

4. WHITE FLASH

5. (SOUNDBITE) (French) OUTGOING FRENCH PRIME MINISTER SEBASTIEN LECORNU SAYING:

"On that basis, I will meet with all the forces of the Republican Left this morning and at lunchtime to see what concessions they are asking of the other political groups to ensure this stability, and what concessions they themselves are willing to make, if necessary, to make it happen. Because I understand that they too want France to have a budget before the end of the year. So, as we can see, this moment of difficulty, of crisis, is also creating a moment of responsibility, in which I hope to find a number of solutions to present this evening to the head of state.

Thank you very much." / LECORNU WALKING AWAY