French president’s former allies join opponents in demanding he act to end a spiralling political crisis

France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, is under intense pressure to call snap parliamentary elections or resign as former allies join his opponents in demanding he act to end a spiralling political crisis in the EU’s second biggest economy.

Macron’s first prime minister on Tuesday urged the president to step down amid mounting frustration even within the president’s own camp over one of the worst spells of political chaos in France since the foundation of its Fifth Republic in 1958.

Departure after less than a month follows fierce criticism of Macron’s new cabinet

Lecornu’s resignation means that Macron has three possible courses of action and all of them are hazardous, notes Mujtaba Rahman, the managing director for Europe at the Eurasia Group.

In an analyst note, Rahman writes:

He can appoint a new prime minister, possibly a senior non-political figure or technocrat, to try to push through a budget for next year to cut France’s ballooning budget deficit.

He can call a new parliamentary election.

Lecornu, 39, faces difficult task of gaining enough support from divided parliament to pass a budget

The new French prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, has promised a “profound break” with past politics as he took over from the unpopular centrist François Bayrou, who was ousted this week over a proposed budget squeeze.

Lecornu, 39, who said “humility” was the key approach, now faces the difficult task of gaining enough support from France’s divided parliament to pass a budget if he is to avoid being swiftly ousted in the same way as Bayrou, and before him, the rightwing Michel Barnier, who only lasted three months.

Sébastien Lecornu, a presidential ally, is tasked with bringing France’s divided parties together to pass a budget

Sébastien Lecornu, a close ally of Emmanuel Macron, has been appointed prime minister, tasked with consulting France’s divided political parties to try to find a consensus on the budget.

The 39-year-old began his political career in the traditional rightwing party of Nicolas Sarkozy before moving to Macron’s centre in 2017 and is seen as fiercely loyal to the president.

Spokesperson says government in ‘fighting spirit’ after PM called confidence vote he is expected to lose

Emmanuel Macron has given his “full support” to France’s beleaguered prime minister, François Bayrou, who is expected to lose a confidence vote next month, which would be likely to cause the government to collapse.

Macron chaired a cabinet meeting on Wednesday as France faces a fresh political crisis. The government spokesperson, Sophie Primas, said after the meeting that Macron fully supported Bayrou and the government was in a “fighting spirit”.

François Bayrou says he will ‘fight like a dog’ to stay in power but he appears almost certain to be toppled

France is braced for another political crisis as the minority government of François Bayrou appears almost certain to be toppled in a confidence vote next month, amid deep political divisions over an unpopular austerity budget and debt-reduction plan.

“I will fight like a dog,” the centrist prime minister told L’Express on Tuesday after his surprise decision to call a vote of confidence from parliamentarians.

François Bayrou to seek parliamentary backing for his unpopular plans to shore up France’s public finances

France’s embattled prime minister looks likely to be ousted and his government toppled next month in a high-stakes confidence vote that could plunge the EU’s second-biggest economy into even deeper political crisis.

François Bayrou said on Monday that he would seek parliamentary backing for his unpopular plans to shore up France’s ailing public finances on 8 September, asking deputies to “confirm the scale” of spending cuts he says are needed to save €44bn (£38bn) a year.