France’s Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has resigned, less than a day after his cabinet was unveiled.
“The conditions were not fulfilled for me to carry on as prime minister,” Lecornu said on Monday morning, and criticised the unwillingness by political parties to reach compromises.
The Elysée palace made the announcement after Lecornu met President Emmanuel Macron for an hour on Monday morning.
The shock move comes only 26 days after Lecornu was appointed prime minister following the collapse of the previous government of François Bayrou.
Parties across the board in the National Assembly had fiercely criticised the composition of Lecornu’s cabinet, which was largely unchanged from Bayrou’s, and threatened to vote it down.
Several parties are clamouring for early elections and some are calling for Macron to go – although he has always said he will not stand down before his term ends in 2027.
“The only wise thing to do now is to hold elections,” said Marine Le Pen of the hard-right National Rally (RN).
“The joke’s gone on long enough. French people are fed up. Macron has put the country in an extremely difficult position,” she added.
The decision on how to proceed now rests with Macron, who must surely be asking himself how long this political charade can be allowed to go on.
He has three options. He can appoint another prime minister. He can once again dissolve the National Assembly. Or he can resign himself.
The last is the least likely, while the first would be his natural choice.
Credit: bbc.com
