Overview

• President Emmanuel Macron appointed Sébastien Lecornu as prime minister after François Bayrou resigned, with Lecornu taking office on Wednesday.
• Police deployed about 80,000 officers as protests and blockades against austerity erupted across France, with authorities reporting 715 disruptions, roughly 200 arrests and several injured officers.
• The austerity drive that triggered the crisis sought €44 billion in savings against public debt near 114 percent of GDP in a fragmented National Assembly where no bloc holds a majority.
• Berlin suffered a major outage after arson on two power masts in Johannisthal/Adlershof cut electricity to around 50,000 households; about 20,000 were still without power on day two as emergency repairs continued.
• As Berlin’s parliament opened debate on the 2026–27 budget, roughly 4,000 demonstrators opposed social‑sector cuts, while the finance senator defended a plan to curb spending growth and finance higher outlays with new borrowing.