French PM Sebastien Lecornu Resigns Hours After Cabinet Unveiled

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu resigned on Monday, the presidency said, plunging the European nation further into political deadlock.

President Emmanuel Macron had named Lecornu last month to the post, but the largely unchanged Cabinet lineup he unveiled late on Sunday was met with fierce criticism across the political spectrum.

France on Sunday named a new Cabinet, which mostly featured returnees as the government is gripped in a political turmoil. The Prime Minister has reappointed several LR ministers, retained Macronists and recalled Bruno Le Maire and Éric Woerth to the Cabinet.

Sebastien Lecornu has -- in part -- finished putting together his cabinet after mounting pressure and several weeks of intense nationwide protests over his proposed public spending cuts.

An initial salvo of 18 ministers was announced on Sunday evening by Emmanuel Moulin, Secretary General of the Élysee Palace.

At the start of the consultations initiated by Matignon, the little intrigue surrounding this new government concerned whether or not Rachida Dati would remain in office, in the midst of a judicial storm, as well as the name of the person who would take over the Armed Forces from Sebastien Lecornu.

The further the timetable progressed, the more pressing became the demands of Macron's de facto allies.

Worried about pressure from the left on economic issues, the leader of the Republicans and resigning Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, warned that the right's participation "was not a given at all," as per EuroNews.

The appointment of the government, whether in one or several parts, is an inescapable step before the general policy speech (DPG) which is set to take place on Tuesday and is eagerly awaited by the opposition.

Deprived of a majority in the National Assembly, the man who described himself as "the weakest Prime Minister of the Fifth Republic" promised to "renounce" the use of Article 49.3 of the Constitution to pass his budget.

"In a Parliament that works, that was renewed more than a year ago, that resembles the French, you cannot force your way through and you cannot coerce your opposition", Lecornu said in a speech on Friday, EuroNews reported. (With inputs from AP and ANI)