Sébastien Lecornu, the Prime Minister who wanted to be a monk

ParisIn a recent survey of those carried out periodically to measure the popularity of ministers in France, 45% of the citizens surveyed had no opinion about the then Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu, appointed Prime Minister by the President of the Republic on TuesdayIn other words, almost half of the French people interviewed had never met Lecornu, even though he had been defense minister for more than three years. He was appointed shortly after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.

This may be surprising, but it reflects the personality of the new head of government. Lecornu has so far been a discreet minister, almost always cautious in his public statements. A young politician, 39 years old, with little charisma and little media presence. The antithesis of ministers like his friend Gérald Darmanin (Justice) or Bruno Retailleau (Interior), omnipresent in the media and always prone to controversy.

President Macron has chosen him as prime minister. in the midst of the storm of street protests to replace François Bayrou and pilot the country's exit from the political crisis and instability. Surely, many French people who didn't know him have already become familiar with his name and face.

President's Circle

In the political sphere, Lecornu is well known. For years, he has been one of the indispensable men in the president's inner circle and has been part of the government since Macron came to the Élysée Palace in 2017. He is a key cog in the Macronist machinery. Despite his limited public presence, he has managed to move seamlessly behind the scenes. First as a member of the conservative Republicans party, the traditional right, and then as a member of Macron's République en Marche (Royal Republic on the Move).

He is one of the right-wing politicians who was seduced by the president's political project—supposedly centrist, although it has shifted to the right—something that led to his expulsion from the Republicans. However, he continues to maintain close relationships with right-wing figures such as Nicolas Sarkozy. The former president used to call him, amicably, the cornicon (the pickle, in French), according to what he says Le Monde.

Under Emmanuel Macron, the new prime minister has held various government posts, from Secretary of State for Ecology to Minister of Overseas Affairs and, since 2022, Minister of Defense. He is the only member of the executive to have survived all the changes of prime minister. He served under Élisabeth Borne when she was only 36 and continued to do so under Michel Barnier and François Bayrou. Both Borne and Barnier hesitated to appoint him as minister: the former because Le Pen was too young and the latter because he wanted a change of scenery. Macron convinced them.

Secret meetings with Le Pen

The new head of government is loyal to the president and has a reputation as a good negotiator, having the ability to dialogue with people from other parties. During the crisis of the yellow vests, in 2019, was one of the driving forces behind the major debates that led to the end of the mobilization. One of his few scandals as minister was his secret contacts with the far-right leader, Marine Le Pen. According to Mediapart, Sébastien Lecornu dined twice with the leader of the National Regrouping Party.

He is so extremely discreet that hardly anything is known about his private life, only that he lives with his dog and that he is an only child. Born in a commune in the Paris region, he grew up in Vernon, a town in Normandy where he served as mayor. His mother was a secretary and his father an aeronautical technician. Vernon is a resident of Giverny, where Claude Monet lived from 1883 until his death in 1926. The bucolic landscapes of this place inspired some of the French painter's paintings, and today you can visit his house and gardens, converted into the Musée des Impressionistes. Lecornu is the chairman of the museum's board of directors.

Unlike other ministers, prime ministers, and presidents, Lecornu did not study at a large university like the ENA. In fact, he doesn't even have a university degree. He began law studies in Paris but never finished. There has been some controversy in recent hours about whether he or his entourage lied about his CV. The government website only lists "law studies," but in a previous version, he was listed as a law graduate, according to the lawyer and left-wing activist Juan Branco. And, in fact, in some of the profiles published by French media this week, he appears as a law graduate.

Be that as it may, combining work and studies wasn't easy, especially for someone like him, who at 19 was already a parliamentary assistant and at 22 an advisor to the then-Minister Bruno Le Maire. In fact, he's not known to have held any jobs outside of politics. He wanted to be a soldier, but sport wasn't his strong suit, and he ended up settling for an army reservist. He was also on the verge of choosing religion as his way of life. After making various spiritual retreats at the Abbey of Saint-Wandrille in Normandy, he was on the verge of becoming a Benedictine monk. He wasn't even 20 yet.

Against gay marriage

Finally, he chose politics, but he didn't abandon his conservative beliefs. In 2012, when France was debating legalizing same-sex marriage, he harshly criticized the law. "Marriage is, in our societies, the basis for building a family. And a family is built between a man and a woman," he said forcefully. Years later, with gay marriage normalized and now a minister, he became less belligerent. "I've evolved a lot," he asserted.