Monday, October 6, 2025, at the National Assembly building in Paris, France. French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecorne resigned on Monday morning, a day after President Emmanuel Macron named a widely criticized new cabinet. Photographer: Nathan Lane/Bloomberg via Getty Images
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When French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecorne’s resignation broke on Monday morning, journalists scrambled to contact government spokesmen to clarify which minister was actually in charge.
That’s because France’s political situation is unprecedented and unique at the moment (and here’s the answer: those appointed on Sunday night will be looked after until a new prime minister and government are chosen).
Thirteen hours after announcing his new government’s cabinet, and just 27 days on the job, Lecorne handed his resignation to French President Emmanuel Macron.
Political fragmentation after the July 2024 SNAP elections has caused this instability, with opposing political blocs emerging in the second round of voting far from an absolute majority.
French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecorne, who submitted his government’s resignation to the French President this morning, reacted after making a statement at the Hotel Matignon in Paris on October 6, 2025.
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So Macron installed a minority government that relied on and ultimately failed for unstable agreements and deals.
On the one hand, there is an air of déjà vu in France. The next PM will be Macron’s sixth within two years.
The current crisis, on the other hand, is different. The Lecornes government was not overthrown by the opposition, like its predecessors Michel Barnier and François Bairou.
Ally takes a turn
In his speech Monday morning to explain his decision to resign, Lecorne blamed political parties’ intransigence for France’s impasse.
“I was ready to compromise, but each party wanted the other to adopt the entire program,” he said, adding that “the composition of the government has awakened a partisan appetite that is not independent of future presidential elections.”
This was a barely veiled criticism of Bruno Retailleau, the newly reappointed interior minister and leader of the centre-right group Les Republicains (LR).
Immediately after Sunday night’s nomination, Leterault criticized the composition of the government, which “does not reflect the break promised by L’Ecornes” and said his party’s executives would meet the next day to decide whether to continue supporting the government.
LR and its 49 MPs have been part of the “Socle Commun” (Common Base) since the snap election, and even before that, in collaboration with Macron’s centrist alliance, the Ensemble. Several important roles in the new cabinet were given to politicians originally in the ranks of the LR. This included former economy and finance minister Bruno Le Maier, who was named the new defense minister, and a feather in the cap within the party.
French Minister of the Interior Bruno Rechilot at the National Assembly in Paris, France on September 8, 2025.
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It is ironic that a party that prefers to present itself as the party of responsibility is particularly ironic when it comes to France’s latest political crisis, especially when it comes to finances. However, LR’s distance from the government left Les Cornes with no room for maneuver.
In some ways, the split in the “Socle Commun” is not surprising. As we approach the 2027 presidential election, political parties and major politicians are thinking about their future. Macron cannot run again after winning the presidency twice. With his unpopularity, even allies have begun to distance themselves. The latest move by LR could be another step in a broader political realignment ahead of the election.
What now?
So now all eyes are on Elise again.
In a surprise twist on Monday evening, Macron gave Lecornes another 48 hours for “final discussions” with rival parties in an attempt to break the deadlock.
Lecornu wrote on social media platform X that he would brief the president on the potential breakthrough on Wednesday evening.
It’s hard to see what Lecorne can accomplish in 48 hours since his nomination almost a month ago.
So will the next step be another snap election?
The far right, led by Jordan Bardella and Marine Le Pen, is calling for this. That’s not surprising, since opinion polls show them in the lead with 30-35% of the votes.
Marine Le Pen (L) of the Rassemblement National Parliamentary Group speaks with President and leading MEP Jordan Bardella of France’s far-right RASEMBLEMENT National and leads a parliamentary seminar of the French far-right RASEMBLEMENT National (National Rally) RN party at the French National Assembly in Paris on September 14, 2024.
Ludovic Marin | AFP | Getty Images
As was the case last year, in the end the left coalition and the so-called “Cordon Sanitia” came out on top. That coalition between the far left, communists, greens and socialists has since collapsed.
Dissolving Parliament would indeed be a logical democratic choice in the current situation, but there is no guarantee that it would result in a clearer majority.
Lecorne issued a statement of resignation Monday morning saying, “You must always prefer your country to your own country.”
Last year’s SNAP election results were a test. Will French MPs learn to work in broad coalitions like many of their European counterparts? Fast forward 15 months and the answer is no.
