The French PM Sébastien Lecornu Tenders Resignation Following Under a Month in Office
The nation's PM Sébastien Lecornu has stepped down, less than a day after his government team was unveiled.
The French presidency confirmed the news after the Prime Minister met President Emmanuel Macron for an meeting on the start of the week.
This shock move comes only less than a month after he was given the PM role following the dissolution of the prior administration of François Bayrou.
Political factions in the National Assembly had fiercely criticised the composition of Lecornu's cabinet, which was mostly similar to Bayrou's, and threatened to vote it down.
Calls for Early Elections and Government Unrest
A number of factions are now demanding new parliamentary polls, with some demanding Macron to resign too - even though he has consistently affirmed he will not leave before his mandate concludes in the year 2027.
"Macron needs to choose: calling new elections or stepping down," said Chenu, one of key representatives of the National Rally.
The outgoing PM - the former armed forces minister and a supporter of Macron - was France's fifth prime minister in under two years.
Background of Government Crisis
France's political landscape has been very volatile since mid-2024, when snap parliamentary elections resulted in a hung parliament.
This has posed obstacles for each PM to obtain required votes to enact new laws.
Bayrou's government was defeated in September after the assembly refused to back his fiscal tightening package, which aimed to reduce public expenditure by 44 billion euros.
Economic Challenges and Market Reaction
The nation's budget gap stood at nearly 6% of the economy in the current year and its government debt is more than the total economic output.
That is the third largest government debt in the European monetary union after Greece and Italy, and amounting to almost 50,000 euros per person.
Markets declined in the Paris bourse after the resignation report emerged on Monday.
