In a sensational development, Sébastien Lecornu has resigned as prime minister of France. His departure, after 27 days in office, makes the 39-year-old the shortest reigning premier of the Fifth Republic. Lecornu’s resignation is a humiliation for him, for France and for Emmanuel Macron. The president has now worked his way through seven prime ministers in eight years, a Fifth Republic record he shares with Francois Mitterrand. He, however, presided over France for fourteen years.
The catalyst for Lecornu’s departure was the new government he unveiled on Sunday evening
The catalyst for Lecornu’s departure was the new government he unveiled on Sunday evening. He has promised a ‘break’ with Macron’s centrism, but when he announced his government it was anything but. Twelve of the eighteen ministers had been reappointed to their posts, and the response across the political spectrum was one of fury. Within hours the left and the right had promised to bring down the government at the earliest opportunity. They probably didn’t expect that Lecornu would do the job for them.
Jordan Bardella, the president of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally, has demanded fresh elections. ‘There can be no return to stability without a return to the polls and without the dissolution of the National Assembly,’ he said.
For Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s far left La France Insoumise, the only route left for Macron is the exit. ‘The countdown has begun. Macron must go,’ declared Mathilde Panot, one of the party’s leading figures.
Even venerable centrists believe that the game is up for Macron. In an interview on Monday morning, prior to Lecornu’s shock announcement, one of the Republican party’s grandees Xavier Bertrand, castigated Macron for creating the ‘mess’ and then ‘losing interest’ in France.
It is hard to gainsay that statement. Macron is rarely seen in France these days; if the people want to get a glimpse of their president they must switch on their televisions and watch him pontificating at the United Nations or hugging a minor world leader in some quiet corner of the globe.
It explains why his approval rating is at 16 per cent, and two thirds of the country want him to resign. Increasingly, that does appear the only way out of the quagmire into which Macron has led France.
A few weeks ago, Bruno Retailleau, the leader of the Republicans and the minister of the interior, declared that ‘Macronism will end with Emmanuel Macron, simply because Macronism is neither a political movement nor an ideology: it is essentially based on one man’.
He is right, but unfortunately for France this one man is as intransigent as he is inept. His presidency has destroyed and demoralised the country in so many ways – economically, socially, diplomatically and intellectually. But he refuses to accept responsibility for his actions.
Xavier Betrand accuses Macron of ‘losing interest’ in France. But did he have any in the first place? Macron is a narcissist; the presidency has always been about him. France is an afterthought. France is in agony, and the pain will only get worse as long as Macron is in power.
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