Outgoing French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu began two days of urgent talks on Tuesday with leaders from across the political spectrum, a day after tendering his resignation in the wake of his government’s rejection by both allies and opponents.
Lecornu and his cabinet resigned on Monday morning, just hours after their formation was announced on Sunday evening — making it the shortest-lived administration in modern French history.
President Emmanuel Macron has tasked Lecornu with holding last-ditch consultations to find a path out of France’s deepening political crisis, giving him until Wednesday evening to report back. However, it remains unclear what authority Lecornu retains during these discussions.
“Like many French people, I do not understand the president’s decisions anymore,” said Gabriel Attal, a centrist lawmaker and former prime minister under Macron.
Lecornu was expected to meet early Tuesday with members of the conservative Les Républicains (LR) and the centrist Renaissance party, including Senate President Gérard Larcher and National Assembly President Yaël Braun-Pivet.
France’s ongoing crisis — the most severe since the establishment of the Fifth Republic in 1958 — stems from last year’s snap parliamentary elections, called by Macron after the far-right National Rally’s strong showing in European Parliament polls. The result left the country with a deeply fragmented National Assembly and no governing majority, complicating Macron’s efforts to pass legislation.
Lecornu is Macron’s third prime minister since those elections, and the president’s options are narrowing. The opposition has urged him either to appoint a left-leaning prime minister or dissolve parliament, but Macron has resisted both moves. Naming a Socialist premier could jeopardize his economic and pension reforms, while dissolving parliament risks further instability.
Business leaders have voiced growing concern over the impasse. Patrick Martin, head of the MEDEF employers’ federation, told Franceinfo radio that the ongoing “political spectacle” was worsening uncertainty.
“We are calling for a sense of responsibility on the part of all political players,” he said.
Macron, whose term runs until 2027, has ruled out resignation or another round of elections, leaving France’s political future in limbo as Lecornu races to broker consensus before his Wednesday deadline.
