France's prime minister Sebastien Lecornu has resigned after less than a month in the job, plunging the country into a deep political crisis. French President Emmanuel Macron has accepted his resignation, the Elysee Palace said. Mr Lecornu's resignation comes just hours after he appointed his cabinet - and after political rivals threatened to topple his government.
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Mr Lecornu announced on Sunday that he had appointed his ministers, with the new cabinet set to hold its first meeting on Monday afternoon.
But the line-up had angered political allies and opponents alike, who either criticised that it was too right-wing or not right-wing enough, raising questions over how long it could last in a fragmented parliament where no party holds a majority.
In his resignation speech, Mr Lecornu said political parties in France were all behaving as if they had their own majority in parliament.
"I was ready to compromise, but each political party wanted the other political party to adopt its entire program," he said in the speech in the courtyard of Matignon Palace, the French prime minister's headquarters.
Mr Lecornu, 39, an ally of Mr Macron, was the seventh prime minister appointed by the president - and the fifth in just two years.
His sudden resignation on Monday morning after just 27 days in office was unexpected and unprecedented, and resulted in more turmoil amid France's political crisis.
Since Mr Macron was re-elected in 2022, the parliament has been unstable, and the president's decision to call a snap election last year further deepened the crisis by producing an even more fragmented parliament.
After Mr Lecornu resigned, Jean-Luc Melenchon, the leader of far-left France Unbowed, said his party was calling for the impeachment of Mr Macron, while the far-right National Rally immediately urged Mr Macron to call another snap election or resign
French politics has been highly unstable since July 2024, when Macron called for snap parliamentary elections in a bid to achieve a clear majority following a bruising loss for his party in the European Parliament vote.
Instead the elections resulted in a hung parliament divided into ideologically opposed factions deeply at odds with one another and unwilling to work together.
This has made it difficult for any prime minister to garner the necessary support to pass any bills.
Michel Barnier was appointed prime minister last September but was ousted within three months.
The government of his successor François Bayrou's too was voted down after nine months after parliament refused to back his austerity budget, which aimed to slash government spending by €44bn ($51bn; £38bn).
France's deficit reached 5.8% of its GDP in 2024 and its national debt is 114% of its GDP. That is the third highest public debt in the eurozone after Greece and Italy, and equivalent to almost €50,000 per French citizen.
Stocks fell sharply on the Paris exchange after the news of Lecornu's resignation broke on Monday morning.
