Why France's Prime Minister Resigned After Only 27 Days – & Potential Happen Next
The French prime minister, the country's leader, has resigned along with his government, less than a month after his appointment and just moments of the new cabinet being announced, significantly worsening France's political crisis.
It is the latest shock development in a series of events indicating that France, Europe's second-largest economy, is becoming increasingly ungovernable. Let's examine what just happened, the causes and what might come next.
What Just Happened?
The prime minister, after less than a month in office, submitted his departure along with the entire cabinet this week, barely 12 hours after the key members of his cabinet had been announced. He became the shortest-lived prime minister since the Fifth Republic began.
Aged 39, former defence minister, a close ally of Emmanuel Macron, was France’s fifth prime minister after Macron's second term and the third post-parliament dissolution and called early legislative elections conducted months ago.
He attributed the resignation to political rigidity, saying he had been “willing to negotiate, yet all factions demanded others accept their entire agenda.” He noted it “not take much for it to work,” however “ideological stubbornness” along with “personal ambitions” stood in the way, according to him.
The resignation alarmed markets, as the CAC 40 fell 2% and the euro, 0.7%. France’s debt-to-GDP ratio is the EU’s third-highest behind Greece and Italy, almost twice the EU's 60% limit – as is its projected budget deficit of nearly 6%.
Underlying Causes
The roots of the crisis stem from that 2024 snap general election, which produced a hung parliament divided between three nearly equal factions: the left, the far right & Macron’s own centre-right alliance, with no group coming close to a clear majority.
France’s financial crisis worsened the uncertainty, as have presidential elections due in 2027. The president is term-limited, and with each party keen to stake out its ground ahead of elections, common ground in parliament has become even harder to find.
He encountered a difficult task to approve spending cuts in a fractured parliament aimed at reining in the large fiscal gap – a challenge that ousted his two immediate predecessors, who were ousted by MPs over the plan.
The final catalyst leading to his exit seems to be response from conservative parties regarding the ministerial team. The party said the largely unchanged lineup failed to represent the “profound break” with past politics he had pledged.
Revealing key ministries on Sunday evening prompted fierce criticism from all sides, with allies and opponents denouncing it for being too conservative or insufficiently so, and endangering its stability.
Reappointing Bruno Le Maire, Macron’s economy minister for seven years, as defense head angered many lawmakers from most parties, viewing it as proof that his economic agenda was non-negotiable.
Future Scenarios
Nationalist parties of Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella has called on Macron to dissolve parliament and hold fresh elections, as leftist groups has reiterated longstanding calls for the president himself to step down.
Macron has three main options, each risky and none very appealing. First, he might appoint another PM. Someone from his circle now appears unlikely, and a centrist left candidate would challenge his hard-won pension reform.
Alternatively, selecting a staunch conservative would anger left-wing parties. Due to urgent requirements to secure some agreement for approving annual spending, experts propose he may try to turn to a non-party political technocrat.
Second, he may dissolve parliament and initiate new elections, a move he has consistently said he is reluctant to do and which polls suggest could yield another split result – or potentially usher in an RN government.
The last choice is stepping down, however, he has refused to leave before the presidential election in 2027 – a vote seen as a historic crossroads for France, with Le Pen sensing her best ever chance of taking power.
