France's Premier Lecornu Tenders Resignation Following Less Than a Month in the Role
France's Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has handed in his resignation, shortly after his ministers was unveiled.
The French presidency confirmed the news after Lecornu met Macron for an hour on the start of the week.
This unexpected development comes only less than a month after he was named premier following the downfall of the prior administration of his predecessor.
Political factions in the French parliament had fiercely criticised the structure of Lecornu's cabinet, which was mostly similar to the previous one, and vowed to reject it.
Calls for Snap Polls and Government Unrest
Several parties are now clamouring for early elections, with some demanding the President to step down as well - despite the fact that he has always said he will not leave before his time in office finishes in five years from now.
"The President needs to decide: parliament's dissolution or stepping down," said Chenu, one of prominent members of the RN party.
Lecornu - the former armed forces minister and a ally of the President - was the fifth French PM in less than 24 months.
Background of Political Crisis
French politics has been highly unstable since mid-2024, when sudden national voting resulted in a hung parliament.
This has created challenges for any prime minister 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 Pressures and Stock Reaction
The nation's budget gap reached nearly 6% of the economy in the current year and its public debt is 114% of GDP.
That is the third largest government debt in the eurozone after Italy and Greece, and amounting to almost €50,000 per French citizen.
Share prices dropped in the Paris bourse after the news of Lecornu's resignation emerged on Monday morning.
