France's Premier Lecornu Steps Down After Under a Month in Office
The nation's PM Lecornu has handed in his resignation, shortly after his government team was announced.
The French presidency issued a statement after Lecornu met the French President for an hour on the start of the week.
This surprising decision comes only under four weeks after Lecornu was named premier following the collapse of the previous government of his predecessor.
Political factions in the legislature had sharply condemned the composition of his ministerial team, which was largely unchanged to the previous one, and vowed to reject it.
Pressure for Snap Polls and Political Unrest
A number of factions are now calling for early elections, with some calling for the President to also leave office - despite the fact that he has always said he will not resign before his term ends in the year 2027.
"The President needs to choose: parliament's dissolution or stepping down," said Chenu, one of key representatives of the RN party.
The outgoing PM - the former armed forces minister and a Macron loyalist - was France's fifth prime minister in less than 24 months.
Background of Government Crisis
French politics has been highly unstable since last summer, when snap parliamentary elections resulted in a no clear majority.
This has created challenges for any prime minister to obtain required votes to approve legislation.
Bayrou's government was voted down in autumn after the assembly refused to back his austerity budget, which aimed to reduce public expenditure by €44bn.
Financial Pressures and Market Reaction
The nation's budget gap reached 5.8 percent of economic output in the current year and its public debt is more than the total economic output.
That is the third largest government debt in the eurozone after Greece and Italy, and amounting to almost 50k euros for each resident.
Share prices dropped in the French stock market after the announcement about the PM emerged on Monday morning.
