French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu resigns just weeks after appointment

French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu resigned on Monday, just weeks after his appointment, signalling a renewed crisis in French politics.

French President Emmanuel Macron accepted his resignation on Monday morning, hours after Lecornu unveiled the first names of his government.

Lecornu, appointed on 9 September as the third prime minister since the snap parliamentary elections in June and July 2024, faced fierce criticism from his own camp and the opposition after unveiling his cabinet.

Following his resignation, he has become the shortest-serving head of government since 1958.

Lecornu was due to address the National Assembly on Tuesday to set out his government’s roadmap.

Instead, he delivered a morning address, explaining the reasons behind his resignation.

"The conditions were no longer in place for me to carry out my duties as Prime Minister," said Lecornu, insisting he had been “ready for compromise,” but lamented that the parties “have made believe not to see the progress.”

"One must always put one's country before one's party," Lecornu said, denouncing the "partisan appetites" that led to his resignation.

His departure has plunged France into a new political crisis, adding further pressure on Macron, who has now presided over three failed minority governments.

Lecornu had been tasked with the politically daunting job of steering a slimmed-down budget through parliament to curb France’s ballooning deficit.

France’s deficit stood at 5.8% of GDP in 2024, with debt at 113% — both far above EU rules that cap deficits at 3%.

After announcing the first prominent names in his cabinet, Lecornu immediately came under fire.

Critics denounced both its political direction and its lack of renewal: 12 of the 18 ministers had already served under predecessor François Bayrou before his ousting on 8 September.

Conservative Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, himself just reconfirmed in office, said on Sunday that the government’s composition “did not reflect the promised break.”

Far-right National Rally (RN) leader Jordan Bardella, speaking alongside figurehead Marine Le Pen at party headquarters, called for snap parliamentary elections.

"There can be no stability without a return to the polls and without the dissolution of parliament,” Bardella said, adding he “hoped” such a move would come quickly.

Even within the presidential camp, discontent was growing. Gabriel Attal, former prime minister and leader of the Renaissance party, lamented that his proposed method of agreeing first on a budget compromise before naming a government had not been followed.

In a message to his parliamentary group, he denounced the “appalling spectacle” offered by “the entire political class” in the wake of Lecornu’s short-lived government.