The French PM Sébastien Lecornu Tenders Resignation Following Under a 30-Day Period in Office
The French Premier Sébastien Lecornu has handed in his resignation, under 24 hours after his government team was unveiled.
The Elysée palace issued a statement after the Prime Minister met the French President for an 60-minute discussion on Monday morning.
This surprising decision comes only under four weeks after Lecornu was given the PM role following the collapse of the prior administration of François Bayrou.
Parties across the board in the legislature had sharply condemned the structure of the new government, which was very close to the previous one, and vowed to reject it.
Pressure for New Vote and Political Unrest
A number of factions are now demanding a snap election, with certain voices calling for the President to resign too - although he has repeatedly stated he will not leave before his mandate concludes in 2027.
"The President needs to decide: calling new elections or resignation," said Sébastien Chenu, one of prominent members of the RN party.
The outgoing PM - the former armed forces minister and a Macron loyalist - was France's fifth prime minister in a two-year span.
Background of Government Turmoil
French politics has been very volatile since last summer, when early legislative polls resulted in a hung parliament.
This has created challenges for every premier to obtain required votes to approve legislation.
Bayrou's government was defeated in September after parliament voted against his austerity budget, which aimed to reduce public expenditure by €44bn.
Financial Pressures and Market Reaction
The French shortfall reached 5.8% of GDP in the current year and its government debt is 114% of GDP.
That is the third largest government debt in the European monetary union after Italy and Greece, and amounting to almost 50k euros for each resident.
Markets declined in the French stock market after the announcement about the PM broke on the start of the week.
