French President Emmanuel Macron has given resigned prime minister Sébastien Lecornu two days to salvage his administration.
The move late yesterday came hours after the premier resigned following less than a month in office in a decision that plunged the country further into a political crisis, according to AFP.
Lecornu earlier in the day stepped down, just 14 hours after naming his government line-up.
But in another twist, Macron met Lecornu in the evening and gave him until late on October 8 to come up with a plan for “the stability of the country”, the President’s office said, to “conduct final negotiations … to define a platform for action and stability”, The Guardian reported.
Lecornu said he would inform Macron by then “whether this is possible or not”. Government sources told French media that Macron would “assume his responsibilities” if the effort failed. It was not immediately clear what this might entail.
Lecornu on X said he had accepted “to hold final discussions with the political forces” to that end and would report back to Macron.
He said he had worked for weeks to forge a viable path forward. “It would not take much for it to work,” added Lecornu, whose cabinet had been announced barely 12 hours previously.
“By being more selfless for many, by knowing how to show humility … One must always put one’s country before one’s party,” he added.
Macron is ready to “assume his responsibilities” in case of failure, the presidential official said – a possible reference to calling new legislative elections.
Lecornu’s new government raised hackles across the political spectrum – in particular over the appointment of former finance minister Bruno Le Maire as defence minister, AFP reported.
The right-wing Les Républicains (LR) party was infuriated by the appointment, seeing Le Maire as the incarnation of Macron’s economic policies.
But, in a bid to calm the political chaos, Le Maire said on X that he was immediately stepping down.
Mathilde Panot of La France Insoumise (LFI) said: “The countdown has begun. Macron must go.”
David Lisnard, of the LR, which has thus far backed Macron as part of the governing alliance, was also among those who called on the President to leave.
LR’s Vice-President, François-Xavier Bellamy, said the party was not going to offer Macron and his allies “a final lap”. The party’s leader and outgoing interior minister, Bruno Retailleau, was more cautious, saying the ball was now in Macron’s camp and he must speak soon, according to The Guardian.
Pierre Jouvet, the general secretary of the centre-left Socialist Party (PS), said after a party meeting that it was “not calling for dissolution or the departure of the head of state, but for a solution”. That could come in the form of the “appointment of a prime minister from the Left, open to compromise”, Jouvet said.
The developments have sparked criticism from within Macron’s own ranks.
Gabriel Attal, a former prime minister who leads the President’s centrist party Renaissance, told France’s evening news yesterday: “I no longer understand his decisions.”
“The President has tried the same thing three times in a year,” he added, of Macron naming new premiers. “I think it’s time to try something else.”
He said, though, that he would take part in the talks Lecornu has been tasked with.
Lecornu’s resignation compounds a political crisis that has rocked France for over a year, after Macron called legislative elections in the mid-2024 which ended in a hung parliament, according to AFP.
The Paris stock market slipped after the announcement of Lecornu’s exit, with the CAC 40 index of blue-chip stocks down around 1.4 per cent.
The chaos comes ahead of 2027 presidential elections expected to be a historic crossroads in French politics, with the French right-wing National Rally’s de facto leader Marine Le Pen sensing the party’s best-ever chance of taking power.
She said it would be “wise” for Macron to resign. She also urged snap legislative polls as “absolutely necessary”.
RN President Jordan Bardella said his party would be “ready to govern”.
Macron named Lecornu, a 39-year-old former defence minister and close confidant, to the post on September 9.
The President had hoped his ally would take the heat out of the domestic crisis and allow him to focus on his efforts on the international stage, notably working with the US to end Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Lecornu had faced the daunting task of finding approval in a deeply divided parliament for an austerity budget for next year.
His two immediate predecessors, Francois Bayrou and Michel Barnier, were ousted by the legislative chamber in a stand-off over the spending plan.
France’s public debt has reached a record high, official data showed.
France’s debt-to-GDP ratio is now the European Union’s third-highest after Greece and Italy, and is close to twice the 60 per cent permitted under EU rules.
Macron has so far resisted calls for fresh parliamentary polls and has ruled out resigning himself before his mandate ends in 2027.
He could also look for a new prime minister, who would be the eighth of the President’s mandate, but would face a struggle to survive without radical change.
