The city has now surpassed the record of the country as a whole, which made headlines around the world in 2010-11 when it took 541 days to form a government, the longest period to form an administration in peacetime. Brussels, however, like Northern Ireland, which went 729 days without a government, will escape the ignominy of entering the Guinness World Records, which counts only sovereign states.
Mr Lecornu, 39, is the youngest defence minister in French history and architect of a major military build-up through to 2030, spurred on by Russia's war in Ukraine. A former conservative who joined Mr Macron's centrist movement in 2017, he has held posts in local governments, overseas territories and during the president's yellow vest "great debate", where he helped manage mass anger with dialogue.
