Sébastien Lecornu resigns after just four weeks at Matignon, becoming the most fleeting Prime Minister of the Fifth Republic and leaving France without a clear majority or direction.
Sébastien Lecornu stepped down from Matignon on Monday morning, barely four weeks after his appointment. A sudden departure that makes him the most ephemeral Prime Minister of the Fifth Republic and plunges France back into a total political impasse.
En ce lundi matin, les conditions n’étaient plus remplies pour que je puisse exercer ces fonctions de Premier ministre.
A government undermined before it even exists
His mission was clear: to restore stability after the Bayrou failure. His room for maneuver, however, was almost non-existent. Lecornu wanted to break away from the authoritarian methods of his predecessors and govern without resorting to article 49.3. But his conservative allies from the Republicans immediately disavowed a team considered too aligned with Macron, especially with the return of Bruno Le Maire to Defense.
As soon as the government was announced, the coalition fractured. The Republicans threatened to withdraw, while the left conditioned any support on the suspension of pension reforms. In a fragmented Assembly since the 2024 legislative elections, the equation was impossible: no majority, no project, no survival.
Nervous markets, paralyzed institutions
A few hours were enough for the political crisis to become financial. The CAC 40 dropped by 2%, with French banks leading the decline. Ten-year bond yields rose to 3.58%, and the spread with German Bunds widened to 0.88 points, signaling a renewed mistrust towards French debt.
This new episode confirms investors’ fears: the country’s inability to maintain stable governance. An expected deficit of 5.4% of GDP for 2025 and debt at critical levels leave no room for error.
La seule façon de mettre fin à cette crise est d’organiser de nouvelles élections.
Cela rend l’Europe difficile à investir et donne aux investisseurs une excuse pour faire preuve de prudence.Emmanuel Cau, Head of European Equity Strategy at Barclays
Macron facing a political void
The President finds himself without a Prime Minister, without a majority, and without an obvious way out. Appointing a new head of government would mean replaying the same scenario. Dissolving the Assembly would risk, this time, giving a majority to the National Rally, now leading in the polls.
Jordan Bardella is already calling to “give the people a voice“, while Jean-Luc Mélenchon accuses Macron of being “the origin of chaos“. In reality, the executive no longer governs: it manages the crisis day by day, suspended between two storms.
France on the brink of being ungovernable
This express resignation illustrates the fragility of a fragmented and exhausted political system. No bloc dominates, each one blocks. In this climate, every reform becomes a minefield, every budget a pitched battle.
Lecornu wanted to embody compromise; he exits the stage as a symbol of a country where nothing holds anymore. The markets doubt, the voters grow impatient, and Europe watches. The question is no longer who governs France, but how much longer it can afford to go ungoverned.
