The French PM Sébastien Lecornu Resigns After Less Than a 30-Day Period in Office
The French Premier Lecornu has handed in his resignation, shortly after his cabinet was unveiled.
The French presidency issued a statement after the Prime Minister met Macron for an hour on the start of the week.
This surprising decision comes only less than a month after Lecornu was named premier following the collapse of the prior administration of François Bayrou.
Various groups in the legislature had fiercely criticised the makeup of the new government, which was largely unchanged to the previous one, and threatened to vote it down.
Demands for Early Elections and Political Unrest
Multiple political groups are now calling for a snap election, with others demanding Macron to resign too - even though he has consistently affirmed he will not stand down before his time in office finishes in 2027.
"The President needs to pick: dissolution of parliament or stepping down," said Chenu, one of key representatives of the RN party.
Lecornu - the ex-defense chief and a Macron loyalist - was France's fifth prime minister in a two-year span.
Background of Government Turmoil
French politics has been highly unstable since mid-2024, when sudden national voting resulted in a deadlocked assembly.
This has made it difficult for each PM to garner the necessary support to approve legislation.
The former cabinet was defeated in autumn after the assembly refused to back his fiscal tightening package, which aimed to reduce public expenditure by 44 billion euros.
Financial Challenges and Market Response
The nation's budget gap hit 5.8% of GDP in the current year and its national debt is 114% of GDP.
That is the third largest government debt in the eurozone after Italy and Greece, and equivalent to almost 50,000 euros per person.
Markets declined in the Paris exchange after the news of Lecornu's resignation was released on Monday morning.
