France's Premier Lecornu Tenders Resignation After Under a 30-Day Period in Office
France's Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has stepped down, under 24 hours after his cabinet was presented.
The Elysée palace confirmed the news after the Prime Minister met Macron for an hour on Monday morning.
This shock move comes only under four weeks after he was given the PM role following the dissolution of the previous government of his predecessor.
Parties across the board in the National Assembly had strongly opposed the makeup of Lecornu's cabinet, which was mostly similar to Bayrou's, and vowed to reject it.
Pressure for Early Elections and Political Unrest
Several parties are now clamouring for new parliamentary polls, with others 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 key representatives of the far right National Rally (RN).
The outgoing PM - the previous military head and a Macron loyalist - was France's fifth prime minister in under two years.
Background of Political Turmoil
France's political landscape has been highly unstable since last summer, when early legislative polls resulted in a deadlocked assembly.
This has made it difficult for any prime minister to obtain required votes to enact new laws.
The previous administration was rejected in September after the assembly declined to support his austerity budget, which aimed to cut state costs by 44 billion euros.
Financial Challenges and Market Response
The French shortfall hit 5.8 percent of economic output in 2024 and its public debt is 114% of GDP.
That is the third largest government debt in the euro area after Italy and Greece, and amounting to almost 50k euros for each resident.
Markets declined in the Paris exchange after the announcement about the PM was released on Monday morning.