France's Premier Sébastien Lecornu Tenders Resignation After Under a 30-Day Period in Office
France's Prime Minister Lecornu has stepped down, under 24 hours after his ministers was presented.
The presidential office made the announcement after Lecornu met President Emmanuel Macron for an meeting on the start of the week.
This unexpected development comes only 26 days after Lecornu was named premier following the collapse of the prior administration of François Bayrou.
Parties across the board in the legislature had fiercely criticised the structure of his ministerial team, which was very close to the previous one, and threatened to vote it down.
Pressure for New Vote and Political Instability
Several parties are now clamouring for early elections, with some calling for Macron to resign too - even though he has repeatedly stated he will not stand down before his mandate concludes in 2027.
"The President needs to choose: calling new elections or resignation," said Chenu, one of key representatives of the National Rally.
Lecornu - the ex-defense chief and a Macron loyalist - was the fifth French PM in less than 24 months.
Context of Government Crisis
France's political landscape has been very volatile since last summer, when sudden national voting resulted in a hung parliament.
This has posed obstacles for every premier to obtain required votes to approve legislation.
The former cabinet was voted down in September after lawmakers declined to support his austerity budget, which aimed to slash government spending by $51 billion.
Financial Pressures and Market Response
The nation's budget gap hit 5.8% of GDP in 2024 and its government debt is 114% of GDP.
That is the third highest public debt in the European monetary union after Greece and Italy, and equal to almost 50,000 euros per person.
Markets declined in the Paris bourse after the resignation report was released on Monday morning.