France is once again at the center of a political storm, as the resignation of Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu has plunged the country deeper into crisis. Lecornu’s departure on October 6, 2025, just hours after forming a new cabinet, marks the shortest tenure of any French prime minister since the founding of the Fifth Republic in 1958, according to reports from BBC and Al Jazeera. His abrupt exit has left France’s political class and public reeling, raising urgent questions about the future of President Emmanuel Macron’s government and the stability of the nation itself.
Lecornu, who took office on September 9, 2025, became the fifth prime minister since 2022, and the third since Macron’s fateful decision to call snap parliamentary elections in June 2024. These elections, intended as a bold move to break legislative deadlock, instead produced a fractured parliament with no clear majority. Macron’s centrist bloc holds just 210 of the 577 seats in the lower house, while far-right and left-wing parties—often at ideological loggerheads—collectively command more than 320 seats. This parliamentary gridlock has made consensus-building nearly impossible, a fact that Lecornu cited in his emotional resignation speech.
“The conditions were not fulfilled for me to carry out my function as prime minister,” Lecornu, a close Macron ally, said in a televised address. “One must always put one’s country before one’s party.” He added that the political impasse could have been avoided if others had acted with more selflessness. His frustration was palpable, as was his disappointment in the lack of cooperation from opposition leaders who, he said, refused to compromise for the sake of national stability.
The immediate trigger for Lecornu’s resignation was the withdrawal of support from the right-wing Republicans party (LR), which holds 50 crucial seats. The decision came after Lecornu appointed Bruno Le Maire—a figure closely associated with Macron’s pro-privatization economic policies and the country’s ballooning deficit—as defense minister. LR President Bruno Retailleau announced on X (formerly Twitter) that the cabinet did not “reflect the promised break” from Macron’s policies and criticized Lecornu for not disclosing Le Maire’s inclusion. The fallout was swift: Lecornu’s government collapsed before it could even begin, and the markets responded with a sharp 2 percent drop in the CAC 40, France’s benchmark stock index, though some recovery followed.
President Macron, facing the most severe crisis of his presidency, responded by asking Lecornu to stay on as caretaker prime minister for 48 hours to conduct “final negotiations” with rival parties. Lecornu agreed, stating he would report back to Macron by October 8, 2025, after which the president could “draw his own conclusions.” Analysts, such as Jacob Ross of the German Council on Foreign Relations, described this arrangement as “bizarre,” underscoring Macron’s desperation to maintain a semblance of control. “For me, this really secures the narrative that Lecornu was Macron’s last bullet,” Ross told Reuters.
The roots of France’s current instability run deep. Macron’s presidency, once hailed as a “democratic revolution,” has seen seven prime ministers since 2017. The political turmoil is matched by economic woes: national debt has soared to 114% of GDP, and public spending stands at 57%. Decades of generous subsidies and rigid labor laws have slowed economic growth, while efforts at reform have repeatedly run into fierce opposition. Macron’s attempts to push through austerity measures and controversial pension reforms—most notably raising the retirement age from 62 to 64—have sparked massive protests, particularly in rural areas that feel increasingly abandoned by Parisian elites. According to The Economist, protests have become a near-constant feature of French life, with both urban and rural populations demanding change.
The resignation of Lecornu is just the latest in a series of high-profile exits. Francois Bayrou, Lecornu’s predecessor, lasted only nine months after his own budget-cutting proposals were rejected by parliament. Bayrou’s plan to freeze pensions, raise healthcare taxes, and scrap public holidays to spur economic growth was met with widespread outrage both in parliament and on the streets. Lecornu tried to chart a different course, dropping the most unpopular measures and negotiating with each parliamentary bloc for three weeks, but ultimately failed to secure the necessary support.
Macron now faces mounting calls to resign or call new elections. The far-right National Rally party, led by Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella, has seized the moment to demand the dissolution of the National Assembly, hoping to capitalize on their rising popularity in the polls. "I call on the president of the Republic to hear the suffering in the country, to come out of his isolation, and to dissolve the National Assembly,” Bardella stated, as reported by Le Monde. The left, too, is pressing for change, with the New Popular Front advocating for a prime minister from outside Macron’s camp—a scenario known as “cohabitation.”
Even Macron’s former allies are distancing themselves. Édouard Philippe, who served as prime minister after Macron’s 2017 election win, has called for early presidential elections after the adoption of the 2026 budget. “Another 18 months would be far too long and would harm France,” Philippe warned. Gabriel Attal, prime minister from January to September 2024, expressed his bewilderment with Macron’s recent decisions, telling TF1, “Like many French people, I no longer understand the president’s decisions.”
Macron, whose approval ratings have plummeted to record lows, has so far resisted calls to step down, insisting he will serve out his term until April 2027. But with his own party splintering, opposition parties emboldened, and the public’s patience wearing thin, his options are narrowing. Analysts say he faces three unpalatable choices: appoint yet another prime minister (who would likely struggle to win parliamentary support), resign, or call snap elections—any of which could further destabilize the country.
As France’s political drama unfolds, the consequences are being felt far beyond the corridors of power in Paris. The country’s economic woes, legislative paralysis, and social unrest threaten to undermine its role as a pillar of the European Union. “There is a numb anger in the voter base, a sense that politicians are playing around, and a huge part of the French electorate is disgusted,” Ross observed. “People are seriously speculating that [Macron] might step down, and his allies are seeing him as political dead weight.”
With the clock ticking on Lecornu’s caretaker mandate and the nation anxiously awaiting Macron’s next move, France stands at a crossroads—caught between the ghosts of its revolutionary past and the urgent demands of a turbulent present.