France's Premier Lecornu Tenders Resignation Following Less Than a Month in the Role
The French Premier Sébastien Lecornu has handed in his resignation, under 24 hours after his ministers was announced.
The Elysée palace confirmed the news after the Prime Minister met Macron for an 60-minute discussion on the start of the week.
This shock move comes only less than a month after Lecornu was named premier following the dissolution of the prior administration of his predecessor.
Political factions in the legislature had sharply condemned the structure of his ministerial team, which was largely unchanged to the previous one, and promised to block its approval.
Demands for Early Elections and Government Unrest
A number of factions are now demanding a snap election, with some calling for the President to also leave office - despite the fact that he has always said he will not leave before his term ends in the year 2027.
"The President needs to choose: calling new elections or stepping down," said Chenu, one of key representatives of the far right National Rally (RN).
The outgoing PM - the former armed forces minister and a ally of the President - was the fifth French PM in a two-year span.
Context of Government Crisis
French politics has been highly unstable since last summer, when sudden national voting resulted in a no clear majority.
This has created challenges for any prime minister to secure enough backing to approve legislation.
The previous administration was rejected in last month after lawmakers voted against his spending cuts plan, which aimed to cut state costs by $51 billion.
Economic Challenges and Market Response
The French shortfall reached 5.8% of GDP in the current year and its national debt is 114% of GDP.
That is the third largest government debt in the European monetary union after Greece and Italy, and equal to almost 50,000 euros per person.
Share prices dropped in the French stock market after the news of Lecornu's resignation emerged on Monday.
