‘Circus’: Macron scrambles to salvage government as French PM quits after 27 days

London: France has plunged into another political crisis after its prime minister quit after 27 days in the job, sparking demands for President Emmanuel Macron to call a snap election to break years of deadlock in parliament.

Sebastien Lecornu resigned just 14 hours after appointing a new cabinet that was meant to overcome divisions on the best ways to repair a national budget that is loaded with debt worth €3.3 trillion (almost $6 trillion).

In a scramble to keep the government operating, Macron responded to the resignation by asking Lecornu to work for another 48 hours to continue talks with key leaders in the national assembly to try to salvage some of the government’s agenda.

Macron’s office in the Elysee Palace said he had given Lecornu until Wednesday night to try to gain an outcome, but there was no indication this would reverse the prime minister’s resignation.

Lecornu was only appointed last month, replacing François Bayrou, who lost his position after a vote of no confidence in parliament.

The country’s fifth prime minister in two years and a centrist who is loyal to Macron, Lecornu blamed the parties of the left and right for refusing to create the foundations for a stable budget and government.

The right-wing National Rally, led by Marine Le Pen, demanded Macron resign or call an immediate parliamentary election to decide a new government. The major party on the left, La France Insoumise, known as LFI or France Unbowed, also called for a snap election.

Lecornu spent the past three weeks trying to negotiate new policies and a new cabinet that could survive the deadlock in parliament, but the cabinet he named on Sunday included most of the ministers in the previous government, outraging his critics.

He told the media on Monday morning (8.30pm AEDT) that he had tried to resolve the differences in parliament on welfare reforms and budget spending.

“Being a prime minister is a very difficult job, even harder than usual, but you cannot be a prime minister if the conditions are not properly fulfilled,” he said, according to a translation of his press statement by France 24.

“For the last few weeks I have tried to build these conditions – the conditions that would allow us to adopt a budget for France.”

Without naming individual rivals, Lecornu blamed opponents for changing the terms of the negotiations as he was trying to reach an agreement.

“We always got the impression that every time that we were moving forward, the line was actually moving back,” he said.

One of his first moves as prime minister was to scrap a deeply unpopular attempt by his predecessor, François Bayrou, to abolish two public holidays in a proposal to lift productivity and cut government costs. With this dropped, Lecornu sought to negotiate the passage of a budget that could bring welfare spending under control.

His resignation is another sign that Macron has failed to break the impasse in parliament after his risky move last year to call a parliamentary election in the hope of halting the rise of Le Pen and her party.

The National Rally and its allied parties hold 138 seats in the National Assembly, making them the largest bloc, while the Ensemble coalition – loyal to Macron – has only 91 seats. France Unbowed holds 71 seats and the Socialists hold 66, while the Greens have 38.

After weeks of consultations with political parties across the board, Lecornu had appointed his ministers on Sunday and they had been set to hold their first meeting on Monday afternoon.

The ministers found themselves to be caretaker ministers the next day, kept in place only to manage day-to-day affairs until a new government is formed.

One of those ministers, Bruno Le Maire, resigned hours after Lecornu’s announcement. Le Maire had been finance minister responsible for unpopular economic policies and was moved to the defence ministry on Sunday, angering many in parliament. He said he was leaving to help end the crisis.

Agnes Pannier-Runacher, the newly reappointed minister for ecology, posted on X: “I despair of this circus.”

French politics has become increasingly unstable since Macron’s re-election in 2022, for want of any party or grouping holding a parliamentary majority.

His decision to call the snap parliamentary election last year deepened the crisis by producing an even more fragmented parliament.

“There can be no return to stability without a return to the polls and the dissolution of the National Assembly,” National Rally leader Jordan Bardella said after Lecornu resigned.

The French economy has slowed over the past four years, and government spending has increased, putting federal debt on track to reach nearly 120 per cent of GDP next year, according to the OECD.

With Reuters, AP

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