Sébastien Lecornu is going to Mâcon on Saturday for a first trip on the theme of health

Sébastien Lecornu will be going to Mâcon (Saône-et-Loire) on Saturday, September 13, for his first trip as Prime Minister, devoted to the health and "daily life" of the French, leaving aside for a few hours the consultations he is actively conducting in Paris with the aim of forming a government.

Four days after his appointment, the new Prime Minister will meet the French people, for whom he remains a relative unknown. He will notably meet with employees of a health center in the department whose goal is to improve access to care.

Himself a local elected official from Eure, where he was mayor of Vernon, president of the department and senator, this son of a medical secretary and an aeronautics technician had assured, Tuesday, from the evening of his appointment, "to measure the expectations" of his fellow citizens and "the difficulties" they encountered. These are often "unbearable" to access a doctor, sometimes "a source of anxiety" , underlines his entourage. The Prime Minister intends in this context "to testify the recognition of the Nation towards healthcare personnel" and "to reaffirm the government's desire to facilitate access to care" .

Sébastien Lecornu also has to convince public opinion, as well as political forces, of the merits of his method: finding common ground, particularly on the budget, which would allow him to govern without a majority.

Sébastien Lecornu is very close to Emmanuel Macron, with whom he had another long lunch on Friday at the Élysée Palace. His appointment coincides with several social movements. On the day he took office, Wednesday, a mobilization launched on social networks to "block" the country brought together 200,000 demonstrators , and another day of demonstrations called by the unions is planned for September 18 .

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

It was on 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. But at the same time, he needs to reduce deficits, as the rating agency Fitch downgraded France's debt rating on Friday evening.

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 brandished by the Socialists and which the right does not want. Such a measure would in any case mark one of the fundamental "breaks" advocated by Sébastien Lecornu upon his arrival , since it would break the taboo of Macron's tax increases.

Sébastien Lecornu also wants changes in methodology. He first brought together on Thursday, for the first time in a long time, the leaders of the "common core" parties , Renaissance, Horizons, MoDem and Les Républicains, so that they could agree on some common priorities. A "party presidents" format that "allows us to work in confidence, in a more direct manner, to exchange political ideas and decisions," said one participant.