French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu delivers his resignation statement outside Hotel Matignon in Paris on Monday morning. Lecornu was the latest casualty in a revolving door of leaders amid an escalating governance crisis in the republic over the past two years. Photo by Stephane Mahe/EPA
Oct. 6 (UPI) -- French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu quit Monday, just 26 days after he was appointed to replace predecessor Francois Bayrou, whose administration fell apart amid a deepening political crisis over budget cuts.
Lecornu's resignation, which was announced by President Emmanuel Macron's Elysee Palace, came a day after he named his new cabinet, prompting opposition parties to threaten to bring down the government.
France's fifth prime minister since the fall of 2023 and the shortest-ever-serving leader was undone by the seemingly intractable problem of trying to pass a budget containing deep, but very unpopular, spending cuts aimed at stemming a ballooning deficit.
Speaking after his resignation, Lecornu said he had been willing to compromise but that the absence of "conditions to remain prime minister" left him no choice.
