France’s beleaguered Prime Minister, Sébastien Lecornu, shocked the nation by resigning on Monday, barely a day after unveiling his new cabinet. This abrupt departure marks the shortest tenure for a government leader in modern French history.
President Emmanuel Macron’s office confirmed the acceptance of Lecornu’s resignation, along with that of his ministers, in a terse, one-sentence statement. This move follows significant unrest concerning the makeup of his cabinet, which struggled as an unstable mix of centrist and conservative factions.
The sudden resignation instantly intensified demands from both left-wing and far-right opposition parties for President Macron to either initiate immediate parliamentary elections or step down himself – proposals he has consistently rejected.
Lecornu, a staunch supporter of Macron, had only been in his post for less than a month. His exit makes him the third prime minister to resign in under a year, an unprecedented period of political instability for France.
During a televised address on Monday, Lecornu stated his efforts were aimed at “building conditions to adopt a budget for France” and addressing “emergencies that cannot wait until 2027,” the year of the next presidential elections. However, he concluded that “the conditions were no longer met for me to perform the duties of prime minister.”
Financial markets reacted with apprehension to the resignation, which occurred amidst mounting fears that Lecornu would fail to secure a budget approval by year-end, crucial for addressing France’s escalating national debt and deficit.
Ever since the snap elections initiated by Macron in 2024, the French lower house of Parliament has remained in a state of gridlock. Power is split among various left-wing parties, a fragile center-right coalition, and a nationalist, anti-immigration far-right faction, with no single party commanding a working majority.
Marine Le Pen, who leads the far-right National Rally party, asserted that only fresh parliamentary elections could resolve the current political stalemate.
“The farce has lasted long enough,” she declared to reporters following Lecornu’s resignation on Monday.
Lecornu, slated to unveil a new budget on Tuesday, found himself in a precarious position. He had to strengthen a weak coalition with conservatives while simultaneously appeasing the moderate Socialist Party. The Socialist Party’s demands, such as a wealth tax or reversing the recently increased retirement age, directly clashed with President Macron’s staunchly pro-business economic policies.
In a final attempt to navigate the crisis, Lecornu had declared last week that he would refrain from using a constitutional power to pass a spending bill without a full parliamentary vote – a tactic frequently employed by previous leaders to ensure budget approval. This pledge, meant to guarantee lawmakers a voice, was a high-stakes gamble designed to prevent his ousting before budget talks even commenced.
However, in his Monday speech, Lecornu criticized France’s political parties for not embracing that opportunity. He attributed the failure to “partisan appetites,” implying that many politicians were more focused on the upcoming 2027 elections. He further argued that the lack of genuine cross-party negotiation within French politics ultimately led to his downfall.
“Political parties continue to behave as if they each hold an absolute majority in the National Assembly,” Lecornu stated, referring to France’s lower legislative chamber. “I was prepared to compromise, but every political party insists on the adoption of its entire platform by the others.”
Opposition parties, however, squarely place the blame on President Macron. They argue he consistently refuses to appoint a prime minister and cabinet willing to challenge him, despite his centrist alliance’s significant losses in the recent snap elections. Both of Lecornu’s predecessors and their respective cabinets were also drawn from this same conservative-centrist coalition.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the veteran leader of the far-left France Unbowed party, claimed on Monday that Macron was “the architect of this chaos,” primarily because he “refused to accept the outcome of the very early parliamentary elections he himself initiated.”
“Since then, both the republic and democracy have been corrupted,” Mélenchon elaborated, referencing his party’s long-standing calls for Macron’s resignation.
Although his supporters initially praised Lecornu as a skilled negotiator capable of securing a budget deal, it seems the immediate cause of his resignation was a sudden eruption of frustration among the conservative members of his coalition.
France’s primary conservative party, The Republicans, expressed particular outrage regarding the appointment of Bruno Le Maire as defense minister. Le Maire, who previously served as economy and finance minister from 2017 to 2024, is a seasoned centrist, often criticized by Macron’s adversaries for allowing the national deficit to balloon under his tenure.
Bruno Retailleau, the interior minister and leader of The Republicans, commented just hours after the cabinet’s announcement that it “failed to deliver the anticipated break” from previous administrations. On Monday, Retailleau informed the TF1 channel that Le Maire’s appointment, which he claimed Lecornu had concealed from him, highlighted a “disconnect” between the government and its citizens.
“We require a budget, and we need stability,” he asserted. “However, I cannot pledge my support to a government where I am not kept fully informed.”