The king of Denmark has asked a centre-right politician to try to form a new government after the prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, has failed to put together a ruling coalition. The announcement on Friday night shook the political establishment as Frederiksen has been a staple of Danish politics for decades. Her left-leaning party, the Social Democrats, won the plurality of votes in parliamentary elections in March. But despite winning the most votes, it was the Social Democrats' worst electoral showing since 1903 and no party won a majority.
The result yesterday was rather muddy, it resulted in a fragmented parliament. It's difficult to see which government will actually be formed and we're looking at rather prolonged negotiations by Danish standards.
Yemen's Saudi-backed presidential leadership council has issued a decree to form a new government, with Shaya Mohsen Zindani confirmed as the country's prime minister. Zindani will also continue to serve as foreign minister, the state-run news agency Saba reported on Friday. Last month, the council accepted the resignation of former Prime Minister Salem bin Breik and asked Zindani to form a cabinet. Marwan Faraj bin Ghanim was named as minister of finance, while Mohamed Abdullah Ali was confirmed as oil minister.
Macron reinstated Lecornu late on Friday, just four days after the premier had resigned and as his first government collapsed, leading to outrage and pledges from opponents to topple any new cabinet at the first chance. The former defence minister was tasked with assembling a government to present a 2026 draft budget on Monday, giving parliament the constitutionally required 70 days to scrutinise the plan before the year's end.
Good morning and welcome to our rolling coverage of Europe news. France is likely to be the main focus as Sebastien Lecornu, the outgoing prime minister, is due to start a last-ditch effort to rally cross-party support for a cabinet lineup to pull his country out of political deadlock. President Emmanuel Macron tasked Lecornu, 39, with forming a government in early September after parliament toppled his predecessor over an unpopular austerity budget.
French trade unions are leading a day of strikes on Thursday as they try to maintain pressure on the new prime minister, Sebastien Lecornu, to rethink budget cuts and consider a form of wealth tax on the super-rich. Lecornu has still not formed a new government after being appointed on 9 September amid a political crisis when his predecessor, Francois Bayrou, was dramatically ousted over proposed budget cuts.
