France's Political Musical Chairs: Five PMs In Three Years — What Went Wrong Under Macron Presidency?
The French President's government was plagued with political instability ever since he lost the snap elections leading to him no longer having a majority in the parliament.
France's erstwhile Prime Minister Sebastian Lecornu's resignation was formalised by President Emmanuel Macron, who accepted it merely a day after announcing his cabinet on Oct. 6, 2025.
Macron's cabinet had been widely panned by the opposition party, as well as his own supporters due to the fact that it was barely changed signalling that his administration was not interested in major reforms.
The French President's government was plagued with political instability ever since he lost the snap elections leading to him no longer having a majority in the parliament. This lead to an even split between his centre right Renaissance Party, the far right National Rally party and the left leaning New Populist Front Party.
This lead to a hung parliament situation happening quite often with prime ministers resigning one after another in quick succession owing to failure to pass policy and losing confidence votes from political deadlock created by the opposition.
List Of Prime Minister Resignations Since Macron Took Power
Elisabeth Borne (May 2022 – Jan 2024): Borne used legislation to bypass Parliamentary vote to implement the controversial retirement age increase causing wide-spread protests. She resigned within one year and eight months when she tried to refresh her cabinet and faced deadlock.
Gabriel Attal (Jan 2024 – Sep 2024): Attal failed to pass his attempt to cut unemployment benefits by reducing the time period for them and also rejecting tax hikes. The hung parliament from the snap elections lead to him resigning. He served for five months and 21 days.
Michel Barnier (Sep 2024 – Dec 2024): Barnier was ousted by a no confidence vote from the parliament, the first successful one since 1962. He had proposed a budget that included cutting social security and welfare programs and freezing hiring in the public sector. He served for one month and six days.
Francois Bayrou (Dec 2024 – Sep 2025): Bayrou resigned when he was unable to pass his 44 million euro austerity-focused budget that would have removed two public holidays, frozen pensions and social spending and done away with tax exemptions. He served for one year, one month, and two days.
Sebastien Lecornu (Sept 2025 – Oct 2025): Lecornu resigned when his cabinet collapsed within 14 hours due to widespread disagreements not just from other parties but also his own coalltion with The Republicans Party partly siding with the far right National Rally. He served for 27 days.
The French Prime Minister's Renaissance Party largely fell in line with the austerity measures he implemented since his first tenure in 2017. The centre-right administration started by implementing wealth tax alterations by reducing the tax on real estate and making labour laws more lax.
And then moved to the extent of ramping up the reduction in public spending reducing the budget for welfare and public sector schemes.
Macron also managed to raise the retirement age by two years from 62 to 64. He posited these legislations as necessary to reduce France's fiscal deficit and keep in line with the European Union's fiscal regulations, according to The Parliament Magazine.
The European Commission had placed France under excessive deficit procedure as a warning due to its deficit reaching 5.8% of its GDP, with its public debt projected to reach 120% of the GDP by 2027.
These austerity measures made Macron's administration unpopular with the broader polity, leading to many widespread protests. It also lead to political instability in his party leading into the current scenario. Macron may have to choose a new PM, or hold snap elections again or step down and hold fresh elections.
