French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu resigned Monday less than 24 hours after unveiling his cabinet and under a month into the job, plunging France into deeper political turmoil and leaving President Emmanuel Macron with dwindling options.
Lecornu, a close Macron ally, took office in September after replacing François Bayrou, becoming France’s fourth prime minister in a year amid prolonged instability. His departure follows his failure to build consensus in a deeply divided legislature, where “far-right” and left-wing blocs control over 320 seats in the National Assembly compared to 210 for centrists and allied conservatives, leaving no party with a majority.
In his resignation speech, Lecornu lamented the lack of cooperation across the political spectrum. “It would take little for it to work,” he said. “By being more selfless for many, by knowing how to show humility. One must always put one’s country before one’s party.”
With less than two years until the next presidential election, Macron’s rivals quickly seized on the resignation. Marine Le Pen of the “far-right” National Rally called for new snap parliamentary elections or for Macron to resign. “There is no other solution. The only wise course of action in these circumstances is to return to the polls,” she said. The far-left France Unbowed also urged Macron to step down, while other left-wing leaders called for reviving a broad coalition of leftists, socialists, greens, and communists.
