France's Premier Sébastien Lecornu Resigns After Less Than a 30-Day Period in the Role
The nation's PM Sébastien Lecornu has resigned, shortly after his ministers was announced.
The Elysée palace made the announcement after the Prime Minister met President Emmanuel Macron for an 60-minute discussion on the start of the week.
This shock move comes only under four weeks after he was named premier following the collapse of the prior administration of his predecessor.
Various groups in the legislature had strongly opposed the composition of the new government, which was largely unchanged to Bayrou's, and promised to block its approval.
Demands for New Vote and Government Instability
Several parties are now clamouring for new parliamentary polls, with some demanding the President to resign too - although he has always said he will not resign before his mandate concludes in five years from now.
"The President needs to decide: dissolution of parliament or leaving office," said Sébastien Chenu, one of leading figures of the far right National Rally (RN).
Lecornu - the ex-defense chief and a Macron loyalist - was the fifth premier in less than 24 months.
Background 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 obtain required votes to pass any bills.
The previous administration was voted down in last month after parliament declined to support his fiscal tightening package, which aimed to reduce public expenditure by 44 billion euros.
Economic Pressures and Stock Response
The nation's budget gap reached nearly 6% of the economy in the current year and its government debt is 114% of GDP.
That is the third largest government debt in the European monetary union after Greece and Italy, and amounting to almost 50,000 euros per person.
Share prices dropped in the French stock market after the announcement about the PM was released on Monday.
