Why France's PM Stepped Down Following Just 27 Days – & Potential Happen Next
The French PM, the country's leader, has resigned together with the cabinet, less than a month after taking office and just hours after unveiling his ministers, significantly worsening France's governmental turmoil.
This marks the latest shock development in a series of events indicating that the nation, the EU’s second-biggest member state, is becoming increasingly ungovernable. Let's examine what just happened, why – and what might come next.
What Just Happened?
The prime minister, after less than a month in office, submitted his departure along with the entire cabinet on Monday, only half a day following the ministerial lineup reveal. This made him the shortest-lived prime minister in modern French history.
Aged 39, ex-defense chief, a close ally of Emmanuel Macron, was France’s fifth prime minister after Macron's second term and third leader post-parliament dissolution and called early legislative elections that were held last summer.
He attributed the resignation to political rigidity, saying he had been “ready to compromise, but every party wanted others accept their entire agenda.” He noted it “not take much for it to work,” however “ideological stubbornness” along with “personal ambitions” stood in the way, he said.
His departure alarmed markets, as the CAC 40 fell 2% and the euro declined 0.7%. The national debt ratio ranks third in the EU after Greece and Italy, nearly double the EU's 60% limit – as is the nearly 6% deficit forecast.
Underlying Causes
The roots of the crisis lie in that 2024 snap general election, which produced a hung parliament split among three more or less equal blocs: the left, nationalist right and Macron’s own centre-right alliance, none nearing a majority.
The economic downturn has only added to that instability, along with presidential elections due in 2027. Macron cannot stand again, and with each party keen to stake out its ground before the vote, compromise in the assembly is increasingly elusive.
He encountered the tough job of passing an austerity budget through the divided assembly aimed at reining in the large fiscal gap – a challenge that ousted the previous two PMs, who were ousted by MPs over the plan.
The immediate trigger for his resignation appears to have been response from conservative parties to the new cabinet. They claimed the largely unchanged lineup did not reflect the “profound break” with past politics that Lecornu had promised.
But announcement of the main cabinet posts on Sunday evening prompted fierce criticism from all sides, with allies and opponents denouncing it for being too conservative or insufficiently so, and endangering its stability.
The return of Bruno Le Maire, long-time finance chief, to government as defence minister particularly enraged politicians across factions, viewing it as proof that his economic agenda was non-negotiable.
What Might Happen Now?
Nationalist parties of Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella has called on Macron to dissolve parliament and hold fresh elections, as leftist groups renewed demands for the president himself to step down.
Macron has three main options, all hazardous and uninviting. Initially, he could name a new prime minister. Someone from his circle seems improbable, while even a moderate leftwinger could undermine his pension changes.
On the other hand, appointing a confirmed rightwinger would anger left-wing parties. Given the pressing need to achieve a minimum of consensus to at least pass a budget for this year, some analysts have suggested he may try to turn to a non-party political technocrat.
Next, he may dissolve parliament and call fresh legislative elections, an option he has resisted and which polls suggest could yield another split result – or potentially usher in an RN government.
The last choice would be to resign, however, he has refused to leave before the presidential election in 2027 – a vote seen as a historic crossroads in French politics, as Le Pen eyes a potential victory.
