France's Premier Sébastien Lecornu Tenders Resignation After Under a 30-Day Period in Office
The French Premier Sébastien Lecornu has handed in his resignation, under 24 hours after his ministers was unveiled.
The presidential office made the announcement after the Prime Minister met Macron for an 60-minute discussion on Monday morning.
This surprising decision comes only 26 days after Lecornu was given the PM role following the downfall of the previous government of his predecessor.
Various groups in the National Assembly had strongly opposed the structure of Lecornu's cabinet, which was largely unchanged to the previous one, and threatened to vote it down.
Calls for New Vote and Government Instability
Multiple political groups are now calling for early elections, with others calling for Macron to step down as well - even though he has repeatedly stated he will not stand down before his term ends in five years from now.
"Macron needs to choose: calling new elections or stepping down," said Sébastien Chenu, one of leading figures of the National Rally.
Lecornu - the previous military head and a ally of the President - was France's fifth prime minister in under two years.
Context of Government Crisis
French politics has been markedly turbulent since last summer, when early legislative polls resulted in a hung parliament.
This has posed obstacles for every premier to obtain required votes to pass any bills.
Bayrou's government was rejected in autumn after the assembly declined to support his austerity budget, which aimed to reduce public expenditure by $51 billion.
Economic Challenges and Stock Response
The nation's budget gap hit 5.8 percent of economic output in 2024 and its national debt is 114% of GDP.
That is the number three debt level in the eurozone after two southern European nations, and amounting to almost 50k euros for each resident.
Share prices dropped in the Paris exchange after the announcement about the PM was released on Monday.
