France’s Prime Minister resigns after less than a month on the job

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu resigned Monday just hours after he unveiled his new cabinet, in a shock move that plunged the country further into political crisis.

The prime minister – a key ally of embattled French President Emmanuel Macron – had not even been in office for four weeks, meaning he departs with the ignominious distinction of being the shortest-serving French prime minister since the Fifth Republic began.

Lecornu was France’s fifth prime minister in less than two years. The country has been mired in political paralysis since inconclusive snap elections called by Macron in 2024 resulted in no party having an absolute majority in parliament.

In a government reliant on fragile coalitions, every cog mattered. Barely 12 hours after announcing a cabinet that largely retained the same ministers, Lecornu faced backlash across the political spectrum, condemned by both the left and the right, which had made significant gains in the last election.

Lecornu had taken weeks to announce his chosen ministers, in what many assumed was an effort to present a more diverse, politically representative line-up. Speaking on Monday, he blamed a lack of compromise among parliamentary parties on his government’s collapse.

He said that the “break” he had offered – his pledge to no longer use clause 49.3 of the French constitution to force through legislation without a vote – was insufficient for the other parties.

“We didn’t need much to get there,” Lecornu said of negotiations with other parties to chart a path towards a workable government, adding that a lack of humility and “certain egos” got in the way. “There are lots of red lines in the mouths of some” but “there were rarely any green lines,” he added.

“You can’t be prime minister when the conditions simply aren’t there,” Lecornu said. “Political parties keep acting as if each of them held a majority in the National Assembly.”

Bruno Retailleau, leader of the Republicans – the traditional party of the French political right – who kept his post as interior minister in Lecornu’s government, reacted in outrage at his former colleague’s selection of ministers.

“The composition of the government does not reflect the promised break,” he posted on X on Sunday night, referring to Lecornu’s promise to change direction from previous governments since the 2024 elections, which had leaned heavily on Macron party loyalists.

Sunday’s cabinet was made up of 10 ministers from Macron’s party, even more than in Macron’s first government when he swept to power in 2017 with a new centrist party. Of its 15 ministers, Sunday’s cabinet featured no representation from the left-wing bloc or far-right party in the French parliament.

Retailleau’s sentiment was echoed by the French far-right.

“We said it clearly to the prime minister: it’s a break or it’s no confidence,” Jordan Bardella, president of the far-right National Rally, posted on X on Sunday night.

Bardella blamed Macron for the government collapse, accusing him of choosing the cabinet and adding that Lecornu had no “margin of maneuver.” He called for the dissolution of the French parliament.

“We’re at the end of the road, there’s no solution,” Marine Le Pen, figurehead of the French far-right, said Monday. “We’re at the end of the joke,” she said, when asked if she could support another Macronist prime minister.

There was plenty of anger on the left too. “This ephemeral government only shows one thing: Macronism plunges the country once again in chaos,” declared the spokesperson of France’s Socialist Party, Arthur Delaporte, Monday morning on X.

“Now, Emmanuel Macron is left with only two real options: dissolve the National Assembly or resign himself, triggering a new presidential election. It seems highly probable that he will choose the former,” French political scientist Antoine Bristielle told CNN.

Particular ire was directed at the appointment of former Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire to Lecornu’s former post heading up the French defense ministry. Le Maire had overseen a drastic spike in the national deficit during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Paris stock exchange tumbled 1.7% on opening Monday morning, with concern growing over the upcoming budget.

The first draft of the French national budget was supposed to be submitted for ministerial approval on Tuesday, a deadline that has now been thrown up in the air.

Credit: CNN