France's Premier Sébastien Lecornu Steps Down After Under a 30-Day Period in the Role

The nation's PM Lecornu has resigned, shortly after his cabinet was announced.

The Elysée palace made the announcement after Lecornu met the French President for an meeting on the start of the week.

This shock move comes only 26 days after Lecornu was appointed prime minister following the downfall of the previous government of François Bayrou.

Various groups in the legislature had strongly opposed the structure of Lecornu's cabinet, which was mostly similar to Bayrou's, and promised to block its approval.

Calls for New Vote and Political Unrest

Several parties are now clamouring for new parliamentary polls, with some calling for Macron to resign too - despite the fact that he has always said he will not stand down before his time in office finishes in five years from now.

"Macron needs to pick: parliament's dissolution or leaving office," said Chenu, one of key representatives of the far right National Rally (RN).

The outgoing PM - the previous military head and a supporter of Macron - was the fifth French PM in less than 24 months.

Background of Government Turmoil

French politics has been highly unstable since July 2024, when early legislative polls resulted in a no clear majority.

This has created challenges for every premier to garner the necessary support to enact new laws.

Bayrou's government was voted down in last month after the assembly declined to support his austerity budget, which aimed to slash government spending by 44 billion euros.

Economic Pressures and Market Response

The nation's budget gap stood at nearly 6% of the economy in 2024 and its government debt is 114% of GDP.

That is the third largest government debt in the euro area after Greece and Italy, and amounting to almost 50k euros for each resident.

Stocks fell sharply in the Paris exchange after the announcement about the PM broke on Monday.