PNN – The French president Emmanuel Macron is facing an unprecedented political crisis after the resignation of his fourth prime minister in about a year.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network, citing the Washington Post, French President Emmanuel Macron is left with little room to maneuver. The sudden resignation of his prime minister yesterday has left him in a bind. It was the fourth prime minister to resign in more than a year of non-stop political turmoil in France.
None of the options look attractive, at least from Macron’s perspective. For France, the path ahead promises to continue the political uncertainty that has eroded investor confidence in the EU’s second-largest economy and thwarted efforts to rein in its budget deficit and unsustainable government debt.
The domestic turmoil also distracts Macron from pressing international issues, including the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, alleged security threats from Russia, and President Donald Trump’s bullying use of American power.
Here’s a closer look at the latest episode in an unprecedented political drama: the rapid developments that have rocked France since Macron’s surprise dissolution of the National Assembly in June 2024 and the holding of new parliamentary elections that filled the lower house with opponents of the president.
14-hour fall of the government
When outgoing French Prime Minister Sebastien Le Corneaux announced his resignation yesterday morning, it left a void at the feet of the new cabinet he had announced less than 14 hours earlier, on Sunday night. The collapse of the government, which disappeared in the blink of an eye and whose ministers did not even have a chance to settle in, was not a happy sight for Macron and almost a comedy for his critics.
This incident reinforced the perception that Macron, who in 2017, on the way to his first victory in the presidential election, had described himself as the “master of the clock” and completely in control of affairs, no longer has full control over the French political agenda and that his authority is declining.
Lack of coalition tradition
When Macron’s snap parliamentary elections backfired, leading to the suspension of parliament from July 2024, the French president believed that his centrist faction could effectively govern the country by forming a coalition in the National Assembly, even without a stable majority.
However, the voting equations in the 577-seat parliament were practically a recipe for chaos and anarchy; a parliament where representatives were divided into three main parties: the left, the center, and the far right, and none of the parties had enough seats to form a government on their own.
France, unlike Germany, the Netherlands, and some other European countries, does not have a tradition of forming political coalitions to govern the country. Macron’s political opponents in the National Assembly, especially the far left and far right, have shown no willingness to cooperate.
Dissolve again
Macron’s other option is to dissolve parliament again and give in to pressure from the far right to hold another round of early parliamentary elections.
Macron has previously rejected his resignation and has pledged to serve out his second and final term in office until 2027. But new elections to the National Assembly will be fraught with risks for the French president.
There is a possibility that the far-right National Rally party led by Marine Le Pen, now the largest single-party bloc, could win, an outcome Macron has long sought to avoid. This could force Macron to share the rest of his presidency with a far-right prime minister.
Macron’s low popularity could also deal a heavy blow to his centrist party base, reducing his influence in parliament from its current level and perhaps forcing him to negotiate and share power with a stronger coalition of left-wing parties.