On 9 September 2025, Lecornu was appointed as Prime Minister by Emmanuel Macron. This happened soon after the Bayrou government was brought down by a vote of no confidence in the National Assembly. On 6 October 2025, Lecornu submitted his resignation to President Emmanuel Macron. The development came 14 hours after important members of his cabinet were declared. Lecornu resigned after 26 days in office, dubbing him the shortest serving PM in the history of the French Fifth Republic.
After having gone through three governments in less than a year, Macron is expected to face tremendous pressure to call new legislative elections or resign.
According to reports, the matter which sparked the incident stemmed from Macron’s decision to call a snap election after his party’s defeat in last year’s European election.
The vote led to a hung parliament with no bloc able to govern effectively. Opposition lawmakers sank Lecornu’s two immediate predecessors, Michel Barnier and François Bayrou, over their attempts to cut public spending. Lecornu was tried to achieve similar goals with an effort to prioritize budget talks over ministerial nominations.
Macron’s opponents had indicated that they needed to move away from the president’s past policies before engaging to work with the new PM.
“The center-left Socialist Party, which Lecornu had been courting, wanted assurances that lawmakers would be able to revisit the unpopular law to raise the retirement age for most workers.”
The conservative Les Républicains, headed by the Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, wanted confirmation that Retailleau would be allowed retain his position while being given full control over issuing visas and limiting access to medical care for undocumented people. They wanted additional guarantees ensuring that Lecornu would rule out implementing a new wealth tax inspired by the economist Gabriel Zucman or backtrack on the 2023 pensions reform. In response, Lecornu in a brief letter of intent highlighted his plans, while stating the requirement to address “irregular immigration.” Even though the response managed to appease Retailleau, the Les Républicains had remained divided over the decision to join the new government in the hours before its announcement.
Most ministers were from Bayrou’s team, and the two most important additions — Bruno Le Maire at the armed forces ministry and Roland Lescure at the economy and finance ministry were individuals who had held top jobs in previous governments under Macron.
Retailleau took to X the same day stating that the “composition of the government did not reflect” the “break” with previous administrations that Lecornu had committed to after taking office. He further said that he would call an emergency meeting of his party’s strategic board the next day.
Retailleau said in an interview that the PM had withheld the information on his decision to appoint Le Maire. Macron’s economy minister from 2017 to 2024, Similarly to Lecornu, he too had left Les Républicains to be a part of Macron’s centrist party.
According to several reports, France’s blue-chip index, the CAC40, has dropped to two percent post Lecornu’s announcement before moving up.
According to reports, Macron has given Lecornu until Wednesday evening to “pursue negotiations” with opposition parties. On basis of the outcome of the negotiations, Macron will “draw all the necessarily conclusions” from the success or failure of these talks, posted Lecornu on X.
Following the talks, Macron will determine to appoint another head of government from his parry. This will be his sixth appointment since re-election. However, after the failures of Barnier, Bayrou and Lecornu, this would certainly not meet him favourably. It is possible that Macron could appoint a candidate from the left, which has viewed the office as an opportunity to govern since their winning of majority seats in the last summer’s snap elections. This however may pose as a threat to Macron’s legacy.
At the moment several members of the left have called on Macron to resign.
Macron has also desisted from dissolving the National Assembly again and conducting new elections.
National Rally President Jordan Bardella said “The sooner we get back to the polls, the sooner we’ll regain some stability”, further stating “We can’t change governments every 48 hours.
Due to the French budget negotiations third PM has been forced to the resign within a year.
These developments have transpired right before the government is to present its 2026 budget. This will hinder the budget process and may require emergency legislation to keep the government functioning. According to French law, the budget bill must be delivered by October 7, even though there is some constitutional flexibility.
At the moment with a limited time constraint to appoint the new PM and the cabinet, it is highly unlikely that Macron may be able to present the new budget within deadline.
The lawmakers will have to pass emergency laws to authorize spending, taxation, and borrowing from 1 January 2026 until a full budget is approved. This is similar to the decision taken in December 2024, after the budget proposal by the government was quashed.
The emergency measures could prevent a complete government shutdown, however there will be stringent limitations on finances. If the spending increases are to be limited as before, then taxes will not be adjusted for inflation. Expectedly, there could be considerable costs as a result of pension adjustments.
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