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PARIS: French unions will hold another day of strike and protests on October 2 to put pressure on new Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu over their demands to scrap his predecessor’s austerity fiscal program, union leaders said.
Union leaders who met with Lecornu on Wednesday said they were not satisfied by his response to their last day of protest, attended by hundreds of thousands of people on September 18.
“The prime minister did not provide any clear answers to the workers’ demands, so for the unions, it’s a missed opportunity. It doesn’t add up,” said Marylize Leon, the head of CFDT, France’s largest union.
Just over two weeks after President Emmanuel Macron appointed Lecornu as his fifth prime minister in less than two years, the 39-year-old loyalist has yet to pull together a government or a draft budget for 2026. He has to deal with a divided parliament and pressure to fix France’s finances.
“There was a big turnout on September 18, and we need to step it up again on October 2,” said Sophie Binet, of the CGT union, describing Wednesday’s meeting as a missed opportunity where Lecornu made no clear commitment.
Lecornu has been little seen or heard in public since his appointment and has instead held a series of talks with party leaders and unionists to try and gather some support.
The prime minister and Macron are under pressure on one side from protesters and left-wing parties opposed to budget cuts and, on the other, from investors concerned about the deficit. None of parliament’s three main groups has a majority.
France’s budget deficit last year was close to double the EU’s 3 percent ceiling. Lecornu will face a battle to gather parliamentary support for a budget for 2026.
Lecornu’s predecessor, Francois Bayrou, was ousted by parliament on September 8 over his plan for a 44 billion euro budget squeeze. Lecornu has not yet said what he will do with Bayrou’s plans.

DALLAS, USA: Three people have been shot at an Immigration and US Customs Enforcement facility in Dallas, and the shooter is dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the agency’s director said.
Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons confirmed the shooting during an interview on CNN on Wednesday.
“It could be employees, it could be civilians that were visiting the facility, it could be detainees,” Lyons said of those who were shot. “At this point, we’re still working through that.”
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said details were still emerging but the agency was confirming there were “multiple injuries and fatalities” at the field office. Noem said the motive remained unclear but noted there has been an uptick of targeting of ICE agents.
Dozens of emergency vehicles were seen along a highway near the facility. Traffic cameras near the scene show six lanes of a normally busy freeway completely empty, with cars and semi-trailers ground to a halt on an interstate exit.
ICE and Homeland Security didn’t immediately provide additional details.
The Dallas Fire-Rescue Department was dispatched at 6:41 a.m. after a call reporting a shooting at or near the immigration office, department spokesperson Jason L. Evans said in an email. Evans said he didn’t have any confirmed details he could share, calling it an active and ongoing incident.
A July 4 attack at a Texas immigration detention center injured a police officer, who was shot in the neck. Attackers dressed in black military-style clothing opened fire outside the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, southwest of Dallas, federal prosecutors said. At least 11 people have been charged in connection with the attack.
A man with an assault rifle fired dozens of rounds at federal agents as they were leaving a US Border Patrol facility in McAllen on July 7. The man, identified as Ryan Louis Mosqueda, injured a police officer who responded to the scene before authorities shot and killed him. Police later found other weaponry, ammunition and backpacks inside his car.