Macron under pressure: Snap elections or resignation?

His former allies, according to The Guardian, have joined his opponents in demanding that he take action to end the spiral of political crisis in the European Union’s second-largest economy.

Édouard Philippe, who served as prime minister from 2017 to 2020, has called on Macron to resign.

He stated that Macron should call early presidential elections once the budget for the coming year is adopted. Macron was re-elected in April 2022 for a five-year term, but since the snap parliamentary elections of 2024, his appointed prime ministers have failed to secure a parliamentary majority to pass the budget.

JEANNE ACCORSINI / Sipa Press / Profimedia

Philippe, who currently ranks as the leading centrist candidate for the next presidential elections according to polls, was not the only one among Macron’s former prime ministers to distance himself from the embattled head of state.

Gabriel Attal, whose brief term as the youngest prime minister in French history ended last year when Macron called early elections that led to the dissolution of the current French parliament, said he no longer understands the president’s decisions.

• "I don't want Macron to resign"

France has been mired in political crisis for over a year — ever since the 2024 elections, which were called in response to the far right’s success in the European Parliament elections.

Those elections left the parliament divided among three nearly equal blocs — the left, the far right, and Macron’s centrist alliance — with no clear majority.

Macron has also repeatedly stated that he will not resign before the end of his term in 2027.