French PM resigns hours after installing new government

France’s new Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu has tendered his resignation, barely 14 hours after appointing his new cabinet, after allies and foes alike threatened to topple his government, driving French stocks and the euro sharply lower.

His swift resignation is unexpected and unprecedented, marking another major deepening of France’s political crisis.

The far-right National Rally is responding by urging President Emmanuel Macron to call a snap parliamentary election.

After weeks of consultations with political parties across the board, Lecornu, a close ally of Macron, had appointed his ministers on Sunday and they had been set to hold their first meeting on Monday afternoon.

But the new cabinet line-up had angered both opponents and allies, who either found it too right-wing or not sufficiently so, raising questions on how long it could last, at a time when France is already mired deep in political crisis, with no group holding a majority in a fragmented parliament.

Lecornu handed his resignation to Macron on Monday morning, France’s presidential Elysee Palace says.

“Mr. Sebastien Lecornu has submitted the resignation of his Government to the President of the Republic, who has accepted it,” the Elysee press office says.