The heart of the French government has effectively gone into cardiac arrest, with the shocking collapse of the Lecornu administration signaling a cessation of normal function. The rapid sequence of events—appointment, rejection, resignation—resembles a catastrophic failure of the state’s most vital organ.
The government, led by the Prime Minister and the cabinet, is the beating heart of the state, pumping out policy and direction. Lecornu’s appointment was supposed to be a defibrillator shock to restart a heart that was already beating irregularly after the ousting of his two predecessors.
However, the shock failed. The political body immediately rejected the new rhythm. The cabinet announcement triggered a massive coronary event, as the arteries of political support instantly clogged with opposition. The heart of government, which was supposed to start pumping on Monday, never took its first beat.
The Prime Minister’s resignation was the official time of death for this administration. It represents a flatlining of the executive function, a moment of cardiac arrest that has left the entire system without circulation. The normal pulse of governance has stopped.
President Macron is now in the position of an emergency surgeon, desperately trying to revive a patient whose heart has stopped. But the underlying disease—institutional gridlock and economic crisis—remains untreated. Without addressing the root cause, any attempt to restart the heart is likely to result in another, perhaps final, failure.