Sebastien Lecornu has just learned the steep price of loyalty in Emmanuel Macron’s fractured France. His unwavering allegiance to the President, once a ticket to the top, has become a liability that cost him his job and made him the face of a national political disaster.
Lecornu, described as a “close ally of Macron,” was appointed Prime Minister precisely because of this loyalty. The President trusted him to execute his vision. In return for this loyalty, Lecornu was given the keys to the Matignon.
However, in the current political climate, this loyalty was seen not as a virtue but as a sin. The opposition immediately branded him as a presidential puppet. His “unchanged” cabinet was viewed as definitive proof that he was not his own man, but merely an agent of the unpopular president.
This perception made him a target. The attacks on his government were also, by extension, attacks on Macron. Lecornu, the loyal soldier, was forced to absorb the blows meant for his commander-in-chief. He was a political bodyguard who had to take the bullet.
His resignation is the final, brutal price of this loyalty. He was sacrificed to protect the President from the immediate fallout of their shared miscalculation. Lecornu’s brief tenure serves as a stark warning to others in Macron’s circle: in this political environment, loyalty to the President comes at a very high personal cost.