Chaos as under-pressure Macron clings on to the PM who quit just hours after naming government
France's prime minister Sébastien Lecornu handed in his resignation on Monday morning just a few hours after announcing his team of government ministers. Caught off-guard by Lecornu's surprise action – he was only appointed as head of government by President Emmanuel Macron on September 9th - the country's various political parties have been holding crisis meetings to work out their strategy. Poltically cornered, the president later granted Sébastien Lecornu two extra days to hold “final talks” with the Right and grant the executive a further reprieve. And to save his own presidency.
“The“The head of state could only appoint a cabinet that was resolved to continue the policies that had been pursued up to this point,” said those close to President Alexandre Millerand in Le Matin newspaper. In May 1924, when the leftwing alliance called the Cartel des Gauches narrowly won the general election, the then president of France did not care: he tasked one of his allies, the minister Frédéric François-Marsal, with forming a minority government. On June 10th, the ministerial line-up was announced; on June 11th, it resigned, brought down by the leftwing parliamentary majority.
