French President Emmanuel Macron is once again under pressure, following the resignation of Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, his fifth in less than two years, just hours after his full cabinet was announced. The turmoil compounds weeks of political instability and legislative gridlock in the country.
Lecornu, a close ally of Macron, stepped down after failing to secure enough parliamentary support to enact the government’s budget proposals for 2026. Critics in the National Assembly, spanning both left and right opposition, opposed the deficit-cutting measures and pushed back against plans to freeze welfare spending and scrap public holidays.
President Macron has announced that a new Prime Minister will be appointed within 48 hours. Lecornu, though officially resigned, has been entrusted with conducting last-minute consultations among the country’s fragmented political parties to identify a candidate and platform capable of securing at least minimal consensus.
Much of the political spectrum now calls for greater compromise. The Socialist, Green, and Communist parties are being courted to support a centrist or center-left government. But the far-right Rassemblement National, led by Marine Le Pen, and far-left La France Insoumise continue to demand snap parliamentary elections or Macron’s resignation.
One of the central issues fueling the discord is Macron’s 2023 pension reform raising the retirement age from 62 to 64, a controversial move that remains highly unpopular across many segments of French society. Despite this political turbulence, Macron has made it clear he will not resign and will serve out his term until 2027. He has also acknowledged recent decisions such as the snap elections of 2024, which he called with the aim of stabilizing governance, have in fact contributed to greater instability in the National Assembly.
For French markets and international observers, the key question is whether Macron can find a new Prime Minister and government that can push through the budget, avoid further snap elections, and address the large budget deficit, which remains well above the European Union’s 3% of GDP ceiling. Failure to do so could further weaken his political standing and raise questions about France’s governance heading into the 2027 presidential race.