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1. France’s prime minister Sébastien Lecornu has resigned less than a month after his appointment, after rightwing allies indicated they would withdraw from his government. Lecornu, a long-serving ally of French President Emmanuel Macron, submitted his resignation on Monday morning, the Élysée Palace said. His resignation came only hours after he had named ministers for his prospective government. Lecornu had promised a “rupture” with previous Macron governments but announced a slate of ministers from his predecessor’s cabinet as well as ministers from earlier Macron administrations. More here. (Sources: ft.com. politico.eu)
2. Three basic scenarios now present themselves: President Emmanuel Macron appoints another PM, he calls early elections, he throws in the towel.
The first is the path he has been following, except with each iteration the PM is further weakened.
Calling early elections is what got Macron in a big mess to start with and the maths might not change
The extreme move -- Macron resigns - seems far-fetched but these are no extraordinary circumstances so can no longer be discounted. French presidential elections are due 2027. How can he hang on till then? (Source: bloomberg.com)
3. Respondents to a recent Deutsche Bank AG poll said France is the country most likely to encounter a government bond crisis in the next two years, topping peers including the UK and US. Benchmark 10-year yields, a proxy for borrowing costs, are now on a level with those of Italy, historically the region’s poster-child for fiscal irresponsibility. And sentiment will likely only sour further after today’s developments. (Source: bloomberg.com)
4. UK’s 200 year-Old Tory party confronts existential risk, Last year Kemi Badenoch entered the Conservative Party conference competing with three of her Tory rivals for the leadership. As winner of that contest, this time around she confronts a more formidable foe: irrelevance. Since losing two-thirds of its seats in last year’s general election, dire poll ratings and defections have humbled the once-dominant party of UK government. If a vote were held today, a recent opinion survey showed, they’d collapse to fourth, trailing Nigel Farage’s Reform UK Party, the governing Labour Party, and the Liberal Democrats. (Source: bloomberg.com)
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