By Obinna Uballa
France’s deepening political crisis took a dramatic twist on Tuesday as former prime minister Edouard Philippe called on President Emmanuel Macron to resign, accusing him of dragging the country into paralysis.
Philippe, who governed as Macron’s longest-serving premier between 2017 and 2020, said the president should leave “in an orderly and dignified manner” once a budget is passed. The intervention, described as a “political bomb” by Le Parisien, exposed widening cracks inside Macron’s centrist camp.
The shock call, reported by AFP, came just a day after Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu quit, barely a month after his appointment, when he failed to cobble together support for a minority government. Macron had pushed him to forge a coalition, but talks collapsed after Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally refused to participate.
The French leader has been under siege since his ill-fated decision to call snap legislative elections in 2024, which stripped him of his majority and bolstered the far right. Editorials in Le Monde and other outlets said the crisis highlights the “unravelling” of his presidency.
Although constitutionally barred from seeking a third term in 2027, Macron has refused to consider early polls, reports said. But pressure is mounting: Le Pen has called for snap elections, while Philippe, who has declared his own 2027 run, insists Macron’s exit is the only path to stability.
Macron’s domestic weakness contrasts with his global posture, where he continues to present himself as a statesman alongside United States President Donald Trump in efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine. Yet at home, his repeated reshuffles have left France on its seventh prime minister in just eight years, AFP reported.
For many allies, patience is running out. Gabriel Attal, Macron’s protégé and former premier, said he “no longer understands the president’s decisions,” accusing him of clinging to control despite mounting isolation.
