French PM resigns hours after unveiling new cabinet: Becomes 5th premier to quit in the past 2 years

Sébastien Lecornu, 39, is a French politician who recently served as Prime Minister of France. Before this role, he was the youngest defence minister in French history and the longest-serving minister in President Macron’s government since 2022.

Lecornu started as a conservative but joined Macron’s centrist party, Renaissance, in 2017. He has also held roles as minister of local government and minister of overseas affairs.

During the 2018 “yellow vest” protests against social injustice, Macron appointed Lecornu to lead a nationwide “great debate” to ease tensions. As defence minister, he pushed through a record €413 billion defence budget for 2024–2030, the largest increase in 50 years.

This plan focuses on modernising France’s nuclear weapons, increasing intelligence funding, and developing more remotely controlled military technology.

He faced the difficult task of securing parliamentary approval for next year’s austerity budget in a deeply divided assembly. His two immediate predecessors, Francois Bayrou and Michel Barnier, were both removed by the legislature over disagreements on spending plans.

A BBC report quoted him claiming that, "The conditions were not fulfilled for me to carry on as prime minister,". Additionally, he also claimed that the political parties are unwilling to reach compromises for the smooth functioning of the government.

The PM gave a brief speech outside the Hôtel de Matignon. In his speech he criticised the political factions for their actions, who he said "are behaving as if they had an absolute majority."

Notably, French politics has been unstable since July 2024, when snap parliamentary elections resulted in a hung parliament. This instability has resulted in difficulty for any prime minister to garner the necessary support to pass any bills in the country's parliament.

Four French PM resign in 13 months