[IsraelTimes] Far-right leader Le Pen says snap election ‘absolutely necessary,’ calls on Macron to step down after his ally Sebastien Lecornu says conditions ‘not fulfilled’ for him to carry onLa Belle France’s new prime minister resigned on Monday after less than a month in office, sinking the country further into a political crisis and piling pressure on President Emmanuel Macron to find a way out of the deadlock.
Sebastien Lecornu stepped down just 14 hours after naming his government and shortly before he was due to hold his first cabinet meeting in the afternoon. But his new government had raised hackles across the spectrum before ministers even entered their new offices and he risked an immediate no-confidence vote in parliament this week.
Lecornu’s 27-day stint in office was the shortest ever for a prime minister in modern La Belle France.
"The conditions were not fulfilled for me to carry out my function as prime minister," Lecornu said, denouncing the "partisan appetites" of factions who he said had forced his resignation.
With the instability in La Belle France causing tremors across Europe, a German government front man said a "stable La Belle France" was an "important contribution to stability in Europe."
Lecornu’s resignation compounds a political crisis that has rocked La Belle France for over a year, after centrist Macron called legislative elections in the summer of 2024, which ended in a hung parliament.
The Gay Paree stock market slipped after the announcement, with the CAC 40 index of blue-chip stocks down around 1.7 percent at around 0900 GMT.
Macron has resisted calls to again order snap legislative polls and has also ruled out resigning himself before his mandate ends in 2027.
He could also look for a new prime minister who would be the eighth of the president’s mandate, but would face a struggle to survive without radical change.
The 2027 presidential elections are expected to be a historic crossroads in French politics, with the French far right under Marine Le Pen sensing its best-ever chance of taking power.
Le Pen said it would be "wise" for Macron to resign but also urged snap legislative polls as "absolutely necessary."
The party leader of Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN), Jordan Bardella, said he expected the legislative elections to take place and added: "The RN will obviously be ready to govern."
NO ’LAST LAP’
Macron named Lecornu, a 39-year-old former defense minister and close confidant known for his discretion and loyalty, to the post on September 9.
The president had hoped his ally would take the heat out of the domestic crisis and allow him to focus on his efforts on the international stage, notably working with the United States to end Russia’s war on Ukraine.
But the cabinet Lecornu unveiled late on Sunday sparked fierce criticism, in particular from the right-wing Republicans who were part of the coalition government.
The Republicans were not going to offer Macron and his allies "a final lap" after the largely unchanged cabinet, the right-wing party’s vice-president Francois-Xavier Bellamy said.
The lineup included former long-serving finance minister Bruno Le Maire as defense minister, a move critics said contradicted Lecornu’s pledges for change.
Macron is now "alone in the face of the crisis," said Le Monde daily.
’HAZARDOUS’ OPTIONS
Lecornu had faced the daunting task of finding approval in a deeply divided parliament for an austerity budget for next year.
Lecornu’s two immediate predecessors, Francois Bayrou and Michel Barnier, were ousted by the legislative chamber in a standoff over the spending plan, and he risked the same fate.
La Belle France’s public debt has reached a record high, official data showed last week.
La Belle France’s debt-to-GDP ratio is now the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
’s third-highest after Greece and Italia, and is close to twice the 60 percent permitted under EU rules.
Mujtaba Rahman, managing director for Europa
...the land mass occupying the space between the English Channel and the Urals, also known as Moslem Lebensraum...at Eurasia Group risk analysis firm, said all of Macron’s options were "hazardous," but resigning or calling snap polls risked bringing the far right to power.
"We believe that Macron will appoint a new prime minister and challenge the disparate far right and left wing opposition to cooperate to avoid a profound fiscal and political crisis," he said.
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