The resignation of Sébastien Lecornu after less than four weeks as French prime minister plunges the country into its worst political crisis for almost 70 years. It is terrible for France and bad for Europe, which needs decisive leadership now more than ever. France is not only ungovernable, its public finances are in a mess, the economy is weak, social tensions are rising and the markets are jittery. The country may not be on the brink of civil war as it was in 1958, but then it had a way out of the mire in the form of Charles de Gaulle. There is no saviour on the horizon now.
While President Emmanuel Macron carries much of the blame for today’s morass, the entire French political class shares it, either for failing to act responsibly given France’s gaping budget hole or for refusing to compromise on their demands. The left and centrist parties worked together to prevent the far-right Rassemblement National from winning a majority in last summer’s snap parliamentary election, but have done much since then to propel it closer to power.
The abrupt departure of Lecornu, a Macron protégé, is a humiliation for the president. It proves that his method of maintaining a tight grip on the direction of the country while making minimal concessions to the opposition is exhausted. Lecornu was already walking a tightrope, trying to craft a budget that would satisfy both the demands for social justice on the centre left and the aversion of mainstream conservatives to tax rises, while preserving the remnants of Macron’s pro-business reformist legacy.