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President Emmanuel Macron has asked his former prime minister to return as head of government only four days after he left the post, sparking a stretch of political upheaval and political turmoil.

The president declared late on Friday, shortly after meeting key political groups collectively at the presidential palace, except for the representatives of the political extremes.

Lecornu's return came as a surprise, as he declared on national TV just 48 hours prior that he was not seeking the position and his “mission is over”.

Doubts remain whether he will be able to establish a ruling coalition, but he will have to hit the ground running. He faces a time limit on the start of the week to present the annual budget before parliament.

Governing Obstacles and Budgetary Strains

The presidency announced the president had assigned him to build a cabinet, and Macron's entourage implied he had been given complete freedom to proceed.

The prime minister, who is one of the president's key supporters, then released a detailed message on social media in which he consented to “out of duty” the mission entrusted to me by the president, to make every effort to secure a national budget by the December and respond to the common issues of our compatriots.

Ideological disagreements over how to lower France's national debt and reduce the fiscal shortfall have caused the resignation of two of the past three prime ministers in the last year, so his challenge is daunting.

Government liabilities recently was close to 114% of national income – the third largest in the euro area – and current shortfall is expected to reach over five percent of the economy.

Lecornu said that no one can avoid the need of repairing the nation's budget. Given the limited time before the completion of his mandate, he warned that prospective ministers would have to set aside their political goals.

Governing Without a Majority

What makes it even harder for Lecornu is that he will face a vote of confidence in a parliament where Macron has no majority to support him. Macron's approval reached its lowest point this week, according to research that put his approval rating on 14 percent.

The far-right leader of the National Rally party, which was left out of the president's discussions with party leaders on the end of the week, remarked that the prime minister's return, by a president increasingly isolated at the official residence, is a “bad joke”.

They would immediately bring a motion of censure against a failing government, whose sole purpose was dreading polls, he continued.

Forming Coalitions

The prime minister at least understands the obstacles ahead as he tries to form a government, because he has already devoted 48 hours this week meeting with factions that might join his government.

Alone, the centrist parties cannot form a government, and there are divisions within the right-leaning party who have assisted the ruling coalition since he failed to secure enough seats in elections last year.

So Lecornu will look to socialist factions for future alliances.

As a gesture to progressives, officials indicated the president was evaluating a pause to some aspects of his highly contentious pension reforms implemented recently which raised the retirement age from 62 to 64.

That fell short of what socialist figures desired, as they were expecting he would choose a leader from their side. Olivier Faure of the leftist party commented without assurances, they would offer no support to back the prime minister.

The Communist figure from the Communists said after meeting the president that the left wanted real change, and a leader from the moderate faction would not be supported by the public.

Environmental party head Marine Tondelier expressed shock the president had offered the left almost nothing to the progressives, adding that “all of this is going to turn out very badly”.