French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu Resigns After Less Than a Month in Office

France's Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has resigned, shortly after his government team was unveiled.

The French presidency confirmed the news after the Prime Minister met the French President for an hour on Monday morning.

This surprising decision comes only under four weeks after Lecornu was named premier following the dissolution of the previous government of François Bayrou.

Parties across the board in the French parliament had sharply condemned the composition of his ministerial team, which was mostly similar to the previous one, and vowed to reject it.

Calls for Snap Polls and Political Unrest

A number of factions are now calling for a snap election, with others calling for Macron to step down as well - despite the fact that he has always said he will not resign before his mandate concludes in 2027.

"The President needs to choose: calling new elections or stepping down," said Chenu, one of key representatives of the National Rally.

The outgoing PM - the former armed forces minister and a supporter of Macron - was the fifth premier in less than 24 months.

Context of Political Turmoil

The nation's governance has been highly unstable since last summer, when sudden national voting resulted in a deadlocked assembly.

This has made it difficult for every premier to obtain required votes to approve legislation.

Bayrou's government was voted down in autumn after the assembly voted against his spending cuts plan, which aimed to slash government spending by €44bn.

Financial Pressures and Market Response

The nation's budget gap reached nearly 6% of the economy in the current year and its national debt is 114% of GDP.

That is the third largest government debt in the European monetary union after Italy and Greece, and equivalent to almost 50,000 euros per person.

Stocks fell sharply in the Paris exchange after the resignation report broke on the start of the week.