Sebastien Lecornu was supposed to be Emmanuel Macron’s “last-chance” man to keep his presidency on the rails through 2027. He has ended up as the epitome of a failed strategy. Whatever happens in the wake of his resignation as prime minister Monday, snap parliamentary elections now look like the only way out of a political crisis that threatens to spread to the European stage.

The situation was already looking incredibly fragile when Lecornu was picked by Macron to serve as his fifth prime minister in two years. With no budget and no parliamentary majority, Lecornu’s hope was to find fresh concessions to keep the left onside — such as a pledge to tax high-earners more and use emergency decrees less. The latter is a bone of contention for opponents of Macron’s 2023 retirement-age hike; the former is seen as a way to get wider support for the unpopular task of reining in a budget deficit of 6% of gross domestic product.

But even this proved too........

© Bloomberg