In a modern political echo of France’s revolutionary past, the guillotine has fallen on Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, with his own cabinet announcement proving to be the fatal blow. The swift and merciless nature of his political execution highlights the unforgiving nature of the current crisis.
The cabinet list, published on Sunday, was the equivalent of the charge sheet. It accused the new government of the crime of being “largely unchanged,” a verdict that was seen as a betrayal of the country’s need for a new direction. This was the sole crime for which the Prime Minister would be condemned.
The trial was held in the court of public opinion and was over in hours. The opposition parties acted as the prosecutors, passionately arguing that the government was illegitimate and deserved a political death sentence. There was no defense team capable of mounting a credible counter-argument.
By Monday, the sentence was carried out. Lecornu’s resignation was the political guillotine falling, a swift end to a premiership that had been condemned almost from the moment of its inception. The execution was clinical, leaving no doubt about the power of the forces that had called for it.
This episode of political regicide is a grim spectacle for the French Republic. It demonstrates a political culture where new leaders are not given a chance to govern but are instead sent immediately to the chopping block. It is a cycle of destruction that leaves the country weaker and more divided after each blow.