Macron Faces Growing Pressure as Prime Minister Lecornu Quits After just 26 Days
France has entered another round of political trouble after Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu resigned barely a month after taking office, deepening the crisis rocking President Emmanuel Macron’s government.
Lecornu, who was appointed less than four weeks ago, stepped down on Monday morning—just hours after announcing his cabinet. His resignation makes him the third prime minister to leave office in under a year and France’s fifth in less than two years.
The 38-year-old former armed forces minister said he could no longer continue because of the constant political fights among lawmakers. “Being prime minister is a hard task,” Lecornu said in his short speech outside the Hôtel de Matignon. “I was ready to compromise, but each political party wanted the other to accept its entire programme. It wouldn’t take much for this to work if only we could set egos aside.”
His newly announced cabinet on Sunday night faced strong criticism from both the opposition and members of his own camp. Many complained that most of the names were old faces from François Bayrou’s unpopular government, which had collapsed after lawmakers rejected its budget
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Lecornu’s choice of former finance minister Bruno Le Maire as defence minister caused even more anger. Le Maire later withdrew from the cabinet to ease the tension, but the political damage had already been done.
Following Lecornu’s resignation, President Macron asked him to prepare a plan for “stability” by Wednesday evening to calm the political and financial unrest. The French stock market reacted immediately, with the CAC 40 index dropping by more than 2 percent as investors worried about France’s growing debt crisis.
France’s national debt now stands at 114 percent of its GDP—one of the highest in Europe—and its deficit rose to 5.8 percent last year.
The political drama in Paris is part of a larger problem that started after Macron failed to win a clear majority in the 2024 snap elections. The vote left the parliament divided between far-right and far-left groups, making it almost impossible for any government to function smoothly.
Opposition leaders have already begun calling for new elections. Marine Le Pen of the National Rally party described Lecornu’s cabinet as “pathetic” and said, “The only wise decision is to return to the polls.” Far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon also urged Macron to step down, while conservative François-Xavier Bellamy said his party “has nothing to fear from a dissolution.”
If Lecornu fails to come up with a workable stability plan by Wednesday, Macron will be forced to make a difficult choice: appoint another prime minister, dissolve the National Assembly, or resign himself—though stepping down is the least likely option.
For now, Macron faces growing pressure as France watches yet another prime minister leave office after just a few short weeks, deepening fears that the political instability may not end anytime soon.
