France was further thrown into a political crisis when the Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu resigned on Monday, only 27 days in office, becoming the shortest serving prime minister in modern French history in France. The resignation of Lecornu was hours after releasing his new cabinet, after the key coalition partner Republicans party, withdrew its support for his controversial ministerial appointment.
Lecornu’s cabinet collapse exposes France’s parliamentary deadlock
Lecornu came out accusing the opposition politicians of not cooperating when the right-wing Republican party withdrew its support for his cabinet on the grounds of his appointment of the former Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire as defence minister. Republican President Bruno Retailleau followed his party’s dropping out, saying it was a government not reflecting the promised break not to pro-Macron ideologies, which Lecornu guaranteed three weeks of negotiation.
This 39-year-old Macron supporter gave an emotional address on TV Monday morning, saying that the circumstances were not ready to execute my role as prime minister. He was faulting the political leaders in various ideological blocks who would not see the light, but he also added that things might have worked had some of them had selfless leaders who would think of the country first and party second.
Macron requested Lecornu to remain until Wednesday as the leader of a caretaker government to conduct his last negotiations with the political parties. This grotesque formation highlights the fact that Macron is desperate to bring out the pretence of control despite having seemingly used up all the options available to Lecornu is viewed by commentators as the final bullet that Macron can use to end the years-long political crisis.
There are economic effects that build up as the markets respond negatively
The political instability in France brought ill tidings to the economy of the country and the Paris stock exchange market crashed by 1.7 per cent on Monday morning. France is already struggling with nearly twice the European limit of national debt levels, and was downgraded by credit ratings agency Fitch in September. The government was to present a draft budget next week this now seems impossible to do so.
The yields on French government bonds have increased compared to those of the Spanish, Portuguese, and Greek bonds, which had previously been the center of the eurozone crisis of debt. The yield on the bond attained the highest value in ten years, which indicated the anxiety of investors regarding the financial stability of France, as well as the political stalemate in the nation.
The opposition parties are insisting on the resignation or elections of Macron
The anti-immigrant National Rally called upon Macron to resign or call an election, and the leader of the party, Marine Le Pen, stated, “We have created the end of the road.” The far left France Unbowed party called on similar grounds, and even the allies of Macron himself publicly dissociated themselves with him.
Macron has three difficult choices then: to replace the prime minister with another who may not easily win terms by the parliament, to quit, or hold snap parliamentary elections, which may not result in a majority government. Gabriel Attal, a former prime minister and leader of Macron’s Renaissance party, claimed that he never grasped how Macron made decisions and that he needed to make another change.
The political squabble France has experienced is indicative of the basic failure of centrist Macron, who has, with five prime ministers, quit within three years, proving that it was virtually impossible to rule over a highly divided parliament. The crisis undermines the economic stability of France and the European Union’s position, and Macron is under growing pressure not only from the opposition parties and the former allies but also calls to resign or organize new elections.