Paris: In a stunning blow to President Emmanuel Macron’s beleaguered administration, France’s freshly appointed Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has resigned after just 27 days in office — the shortest tenure in the Fifth Republic’s history.
Lecornu tendered his resignation mere hours after unveiling his new cabinet on Monday, plunging the nation deeper into political turmoil amid threats from allies and opponents alike to topple the fragile government.
Appointed on September 9 to succeed François Bayrou — who stepped down after losing a confidence vote in the National Assembly — Lecornu, a former defence minister and staunch Macron loyalist, inherited a parliament fractured since the inconclusive 2024 snap elections. No single party holds a majority, forcing reliance on shaky coalitions. His cabinet, which largely retained holdovers from prior governments, drew swift backlash: the far left decried it as elitist, while even the centre-right Republicans, led by Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, slammed it for failing to signal real change.
In a televised address, Lecornu lamented the “partisan appetites” blocking progress, vowing to tackle time-sensitive issues like the ballooning budget deficit before the 2027 presidential polls. Swiftly accepting the resignation, Macron tasked Lecornu, now in caretaker mode, with final negotiations by Wednesday to establish a stability pact. Opposition voices, including from the left-wing New Popular Front, intensified calls for Macron’s ouster and fresh elections, as French stocks and the euro tumbled on the news.
This marks Macron’s fifth prime ministerial flip in under three years, underscoring the paralysis gripping Europe’s second-largest economy. As France teeters, the quest for consensus grows ever more elusive.