France in crisis as government quits just hours after being appointed

France’s new Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu and his government resigned on Monday, hours after Lecornu announced his cabinet line-up, in a major deepening of France’s political crisis that drove stocks and the euro sharply lower.

The swift, unexpected resignation came after allies and foes alike threatened to topple the new government, with Lecornu saying that meant he could not do his job.

Opposition parties immediately urged President Emmanuel Macron to resign, or call a snap parliamentary election, saying there was no other way out of the crisis.

Lecornu, who was Macron’s fifth prime minister in two years, stayed in the job for only 27 days. His government lasted 14 hours, making it the shortest-lived in modern French history at a time when parliament is deeply divided and the euro zone’s second-largest economy is struggling to put its finances in order.

WHAT’S NEXT?

French politics has become increasingly unstable since Macron’s re-election in 2022 for want of any party or grouping holding a parliamentary majority. Macron’s decision to call a snap parliamentary election last year deepened the crisis by producing an even more fragmented parliament.

The centrist president could now call new snap elections, resign or try to appoint yet another prime minister. In past months, Macron, whose mandate runs until May 2027, has repeatedly ruled out the first two options. He is yet to react publicly to Lecornu’s resignation.

BFM TV showed footage of Macron walking by the Seine, cutting a lonely figure.

OPPOSITION WANTS SNAP ELECTIONS

In the opposition, many rushed to ask for Macron to call new snap parliamentary elections or resign.

“Macron must now choose: dissolution or resignation, and fast!” the far-right National Rally (RN) said on X.

“This joke has gone on long enough, the farce must end,” RN leader Marine Le Pen said.

Mathilde Panot, of the hard left France Unbowed, said: “Lecornu resigns. 3 Prime Ministers defeated in less than a year. The countdown has begun. Macron must go.”

David Lisnard, of the conservative Republicans, was also among those who called on Macron to leave.

To explain why he could not go forward and strike compromises with rival parties, Lecornu blamed the “egos” of opposition politicians who rigidly stuck to their manifestos, while those inside his minority coalition were focusing on their own presidential ambitions.

“You should always prefer your country to your party,” he said in a short speech after his resignation.

Why is France mired in a rolling political crisis?

MACRON’S OPTIONS: a) PICK A NEW PM, b) CALL AN ELECTION, OR c) QUIT

After accepting the resignation of Lecornu, French President Emmanuel Macron now faces three unpleasant options.

Firstly, he could name a new prime minister. A figure from within his own camp appears unlikely, and Macron has been unwilling to name a leftist, as they want to dilute his hard-won pension reform. A left-leaning figure would also irritate France’s right-wingers, who want more emphasis on law and order, immigration and austerity.

Macron could dissolve parliament and call fresh legislative elections, a move he has said he is unwilling to do and which could potentially lead to a far-right National Rally (RN) government if it were to win a majority.

His final option – and one he has repeatedly rejected – is to resign. It’s unclear who might win a presidential vote, but polls suggest the RN stands a good chance of victory.

2022: MACRON LOSES CONTROL OF PARLIAMENT

France’s political situation has been fragile since 2022, when Macron lost his majority in parliament.

His problems worsened when he unexpectedly called early legislative elections last year, delivering a hung parliament split between three distinct ideological blocs: his centre-right alliance, the left, and the far-right RN.

PRESSURE ON BUDGET DEEPENS THE CRISIS

Under normal circumstances, Macron’s minority government could probably have muddled through.

But two key factors complicated things.

The first is France’s budget crisis, with the country under mounting pressure to get its public spending in order. France has the euro zone’s largest deficit, and Macron has tasked a string of prime ministers with passing slimmed-down budgets.

Michel Barnier was the first to try, but he was toppled by parliament last December for his proposed budget cuts to the 2025 budget. His successor, Francois Bayrou managed to get the 2025 legislation over the line, but he was ousted last month over his proposals for the 2026 budget.

Lecornu, a Macron loyalist, was appointed after Bayrou, but he lasted less than a month as political rivals roundly rejected his cabinet appointments.

PRESIDENTIAL SUCCESSION ADDS EXTRA TWIST

The other key factor contributing to France’s political instability is the race to succeed Macron. The president cannot run again in 2027, and all political parties have been trying to stake out their ideological ground ahead of the vote.

That has made it nearly impossible to find common ground in parliament, leaving Macron’s prime ministers at the mercy of truculent lawmakers in no mood to compromise.

Little surprise, then, that Macron has already cycled through five prime ministers since 2022.

NEW CABINET LINE-UP ANGERED OPPONENTS

After weeks of consultations with political parties across the board, Lecornu, a close ally of Macron, had appointed his ministers on Sunday and they had been set to hold their first meeting on Monday afternoon.

But the new cabinet line-up had angered opponents and allies alike, who either found it too right-wing or not sufficiently so, raising questions on how long it could last, with no group holding a majority in a fragmented parliament.

Lecornu handed his resignation to Macron on Monday morning.

“Mr. Sebastien Lecornu has submitted the resignation of his Government to the President of the Republic, who has accepted it,” the Elysee’s press office said.

French politics has become increasingly unstable since Macron’s re-election in 2022 for want of any party or grouping holding a parliamentary majority.

OPPOSITION WANTS SNAP ELECTIONS

Macron’s decision to call a snap parliamentary election last year deepened the crisis by producing an even more fragmented parliament. Lecornu, who was only appointed last month, was Macron’s fifth prime minister in two years.

“There can be no return to stability without a return to the polls and the dissolution of the National Assembly,” National Rally leader Jordan Bardella said after Lecornu resigned.

Mathilde Panot, of the hard left France Unbowed, said: “Lecornu resigns. 3 Prime Ministers defeated in less than a year. The countdown has begun. Macron must go.”

FRENCH STOCKS AND EURO FALL

Paris’ CAC 40 dropped 2%, on track for the biggest one-day drop since August, as Lecornu resigned, making it the worst-performing index in Europe, as banking shares came under heavy fire, leaving BNP Paribas, Societe Generale and Credit Agricole down between 5.7% and 7.3%.

The euro EUR=EBS slid 0.7% on the day to $1.1665.

DEEP INSTABILITY

France has rarely suffered a political crisis so deep since the creation in 1958 of the Fifth Republic, the current system of government.

The 1958 constitution was designed to ensure stable governance by creating a powerful and highly centralised president endowed with a strong majority in parliament, and to avoid the instability of the periods immediately before and after World War Two.

Instead, Macron – who in his ascent to power in 2017 reshaped the political landscape – has found himself struggling with a fragmented parliament where the centre no longer holds the balance and the far-right and hard-left hold sway.

France is not used to building coalitions and finding consensus.