Political Chaos in France as New Prime Minister Quits

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - In a stunning and dramatic escalation of France's deepening political crisis, newly appointed Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu resigned on Monday morning, a mere matter of hours after he had unveiled his new cabinet. 

The resignation, a direct admission that the conditions for governing simply did not exist, immediately sent shockwaves through the French political establishment, triggering a chorus of demands from across the political spectrum for President Emmanuel Macron to either dissolve the National Assembly and call snap elections or resign himself.

Lecornu's departure, making him the most short-lived prime minister in the history of the Fifth Republic according to Le Figaro, marks the spectacular failure of President Macron's latest attempt to forge a path forward from the parliamentary deadlock that has paralyzed his government, a crisis of his own making that now threatens to consume his presidency.

Sébastien Lecornu, a former defense minister, was appointed to the premiership on September 9 with the daunting task of succeeding where his two immediate predecessors, François Bayrou and Michel Barnier, had failed.

As reported by France 24, both had been ousted by the legislative chamber in a bitter standoff over the government's deeply unpopular austerity budget. Lecornu's mission was to find a way to secure parliamentary approval for the 2026 spending plan in a deeply divided National Assembly where Macron's centrist bloc lacks a majority.

However, the largely unchanged cabinet that Lecornu unveiled late on Sunday evening was met with a firestorm of fierce criticism from all sides, effectively dooming his premiership before it had even begun.

On Monday morning, the Elysée Palace issued a laconic statement, as reported by Le Monde, announcing that President Macron had accepted Lecornu's resignation. Shortly after, a visibly disappointed Lecornu addressed the nation from the courtyard of the Hôtel Matignon, the prime minister's official residence.

"One cannot be prime minister when the conditions are not met," he declared in a stark acknowledgment of his inability to build a viable governing coalition, a quote carried by both Le Monde and Le Figaro.

In remarks reported by Le Figaro, Lecornu expressed his frustration with the political opposition, lamenting that they "sometimes pretended not to see the change, the profound break, of not using Article 49.3."

This was a reference to his promise to ensure that lawmakers would be able to vote on the budget, a departure from the previous governments that had used a controversial constitutional tool to ram the last three annual budgets through parliament without a vote. "There was no longer any pretext for parliamentarians to refuse to do their job," he snapped.

The reaction to Lecornu's resignation was immediate, ferocious, and unified in its diagnosis of the problem: President Emmanuel Macron. The far-right National Rally (RN), which has been gaining significant political ground, immediately urged the president to call a snap parliamentary election.

"There can be no return to stability without a return to the polls and the dissolution of the National Assembly," RN leader Jordan Bardella said in an interview with BFM-TV, as reported by France 24 and Le Monde. He asserted that the "ephemeral prime minister had no room for maneuver" and that Macron "had understood nothing about the situation in which we find ourselves."

The party's official account on X was even more blunt, according to Le Monde: "Macronism died on its feet. Macron must now choose: dissolution or resignation, and quickly!" Marine Le Pen, the leader of the RN deputies in the National Assembly, in comments reported by Le Figaro, called the resignation a "measure of wisdom" but declared that the "farce has lasted long enough" and that the country was "at the end of the road."

This sentiment was echoed, in different forms, across the entire political landscape. On the far-left, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of La France Insoumise (LFI), demanded the "immediate examination" of a motion filed by 104 deputies for the impeachment of President Macron, as reported by Le Monde and Le Figaro.

The president of the LFI group in the assembly, Mathilde Panot, lamented "three defeated prime ministers in less than a year" and declared, "The countdown has begun. Macron must go," according to the same sources. In a reaction reported by Le Monde, Clémentine Autain of the New Popular Front (NFP) coalition stated that "Macron's rule is in its death throes" and is "plunging the country into a regime crisis."

She argued that the appointment of a left-wing prime minister was "the way out of this carnage," but acknowledged that "Dissolution is another option for President Macron."

Even the center-right Les Républicains (LR), a party that could potentially have provided a path to a majority for Macron, showed no appetite for a compromise. The party's vice-president, François-Xavier Bellamy, stated that his party had nothing "to fear from a dissolution" and that it could not "offer a final lap" to Macron's rule, as reported by Le Monde and Le Figaro.

Other prominent LR figures were even more direct. David Lisnard, the mayor of Cannes, declared on X, as reported by the same newspapers, that "The interest of France commands that Emmanuel Macron schedule his resignation, to preserve the institutions and unblock a situation that has been unavoidable since the absurd dissolution."

This "absurd dissolution" is the root of the current crisis. France has been mired in political deadlock since Macron gambled on snap parliamentary elections in the middle of last year, a move intended to bolster his authority that spectacularly backfired, leaving his centrist bloc as a minority in the assembly and rendering the country virtually ungovernable, a context provided by France 24.

The current political turmoil is a direct consequence of that strategic miscalculation, and the blame is being laid squarely at the president's feet.

The political chaos immediately spilled over into the financial markets. According to reports in Le Monde and Le Figaro, the Paris Stock Exchange dropped by more than 2% in early trading on Monday following the announcement of Lecornu's resignation.

Financial stocks were among the most heavily affected, with the newspapers noting that major banks like BNP Paribas and Crédit Agricole saw their share prices fall by around 5%.

Even members of Lecornu's own, short-lived government expressed their despair. Agnès Pannier-Runnacher, who had been reappointed as Minister of Ecological Transition on Sunday only to be out of a job by Monday, wrote on X, as quoted by Le Monde, "Like many of you, I despair of this circus where everyone plays their part, but where no one takes responsibility."

In a plea for a broader coalition reported by Le Figaro, she argued, "To those who still think that one could govern by doing without the left, I say: you are mistaken. We cannot move forward without sending strong signals, without reaching out."

The crisis comes at a time of significant economic strain for France. The government's proposed austerity budget is a response to the nation's public debt reaching a record high.

As reported by France 24, France's debt-to-GDP ratio is now the third highest in the European Union, after Greece and Italy, and is close to double the 60% limit permitted under EU rules. The inability of the government to pass a budget through normal legislative means has become a symbol of its profound political weakness.

As France plunges deeper into uncertainty, all eyes are now on President Emmanuel Macron. He is faced with a set of stark and deeply unappealing choices. 

He can attempt to appoint a fourth prime minister in less than a year, a move that would likely be seen as a futile continuation of a failed strategy. He can dissolve the National Assembly and call new elections, a high-stakes gamble that, given his current unpopularity, could very well result in an even larger majority for his opponents, potentially forcing him into a "cohabitation" with a hostile government or even leading to his own resignation.

Or, as many of his opponents are now openly demanding, he could resign immediately, triggering a new presidential election. Whatever path he chooses, the resignation of Sébastien Lecornu has made one thing unequivocally clear: the political crisis that has gripped France has reached a critical and potentially explosive new stage, and the future of Emmanuel Macron's presidency now hangs precariously in the balance.