In a juddering political car wreck, the president on Monday accepted the shock resignation of Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu after barely 27 days in office, only to then instruct him to find a path out of the latest mess by Wednesday evening.
Macron’s own camp seems exasperated. Former Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, who now leads Macron’s centrist Renaissance party, appeared on national television on Monday evening and said he “no longer understands” the president’s decisions.
Edouard Philippe, another former prime minister under Macron and a candidate in the next presidential election, took things one step further on Tuesday by calling on Macron to step down from office once a budget is passed, after having cycled through three governments in less than a year.
Then, twisting the knife, Élisabeth Borne — the prime minister under whom Macron rammed through key legislation raising the retirement age in the face of fierce opposition — told Le Parisien she was now in favor of suspending that law and that it was “important to know when to listen and move.”
The president seems to have almost run out of road, and there are mixed signals about which option he will now choose.
Election or yet another prime minister?
For some rune-readers it was significant that Macron saw the heads of the National Assembly and the Senate on Tuesday, as he would have to meet them before calling elections.