French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu resigned less than a month after being appointed, plunging the country into a new political crisis.
French President Emmanuel Macron accepted the resignation of Mr. Lecornu, according to an announcement from the Élysée Palace.
Mr. Lecornu’s resignation comes just hours after his cabinet was appointed and after his political opponents threatened to overthrow his government.
On Sunday, he announced that he had appointed his ministers, with the new cabinet scheduled to hold its first meeting on Monday afternoon.However, the composition of the cabinet sparked outrage from both political allies and opponents, who criticized it as either too right-wing or not right-wing enough.
Sebastien Lecornu, 39, an ally of Emmanuel Macron, was the seventh prime minister appointed by the French president – and the fifth in just two years.
Mr. Lecornu’s sudden resignation on Monday morning was unexpected and unprecedented, resulting in a sharp drop in French stocks and the euro.
French banks led the decline in the financial markets, with Societe Generale falling over 6% in the CAC 40 immediately after the announcement, while BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole also fell sharply.
The index closed down 1.5%.
The euro also fell against the pound and the dollar, while the French government’s borrowing costs, as reflected in the bond markets, reached levels last seen almost a month ago, when the country was again in the same political impasse.
