One of Emmanuel Macron’s most important allies has urged the French head of state to quit and call new presidential elections, piling pressure on him to find a way out of a spiralling political crisis largely of his own making.
Speaking a day after the collapse of the fourth government since Mr Macron called snap parliamentary elections last year, his former prime minister Edouard Philippe urged the president to bring forward the presidential contest, which is scheduled for 2027.
France needed “to emerge in an orderly and dignified manner from a political crisis that is harming the country”, Mr Philippe, himself a contender for the presidency, told RTL on Tuesday. “Another 18 months of this is far too long.”
Mr Macron has become increasingly isolated since his shock decision to dissolve parliament last year to try to stem the rise of Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally. But his gambit backfired, resulting in a hung parliament, an emboldened opposition and several prime ministers who could not survive longer than a few months.
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Sébastien Lecornu, Mr Macron’s latest appointee, resigned on Monday, less than a month after he was tasked with trying to form a government. He is now involved in last-ditch talks with the parties to find a way out by Wednesday evening.
If those negotiations fail, the president’s narrowing options include dissolving the National Assembly again and holding snap parliamentary elections or finding yet another potential premier.
Mr Macron has previously ruled out cutting his final term short and bringing forward the presidential vote. But Mr Philippe, a moderate conservative who served as premier during Mr Macron’s first term, warned that there was a “terrible risk” that new parliamentary elections would still result in a hung assembly and prolong the crisis.
Mr Philippe is widely seen as one of the leading candidates to take on the mantle of the president’s centrist bloc, although he is polling far behind Le Pen or Jordan Bardella, the National Rally party chief.
Gabriel Attal, another former prime minister in Mr Macron’s second term, and also a potential centrist presidential candidate, added to the critique of his mentor on Monday night. “I no longer understand the president’s decisions,” he said on TF1.
Mr Attal on Tuesday clarified in a party meeting that he did not wish to see Mr Macron step down early and that he disagreed with Mr Philippe’s proposal, according to AFP.
The French president has yet to show his hand. But Mr Lecornu’s chances of success in finding a last-ditch consensus appear slim in a fractious parliament and as former allies, such as the right-wing Les Républicains party, distance themselves from the president.
The outgoing premier said on Tuesday that the 2026 budget was one of the priorities in the talks. But he received an early snub from Ms Le Pen and Mr Bardella, who said they would not take part in discussions they considered useless.
“Jordan Bardella and Marine Le Pen have declined Sébastien Lecornu’s invitation, as they consider these latest negotiations are not in the interest of the French people but of the president himself,” National Rally said, reiterating its call for parliamentary elections.
Mr Philippe also called on Mr Macron to put in place a caretaker prime minister and hold the snap presidential vote once the budget is agreed.
Political rivals have pounced on the signs of discord.
“The king is naked,” said Manuel Bompard of the far-left LFI party on X. “It’s time for Emmanuel Macron to go and for the sovereign people to choose the future of this country.”
Laure Lavalette, a senior member of Ms Le Pen’s party, which has long clamoured for either a dissolution (of parliament) or Mr Macron’s resignation, said: “Macron’s whole movement is collapsing.”
- Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025
