By Stephen Bartholomeusz

Copyright brisbanetimes

France is again experiencing political upheaval, and is on the verge of a financial crisis after President Emmanuel Macron was forced to appoint his fifth prime minister in only two years.

Sébastien Lecornu will now have to try to formulate a budget that can pass through a bitterly divided parliament, a process that claimed several of his predecessors, including the immediate past prime minister, François Bayou, who was ousted by an unlikely coalition of far-right and left wing lawmakers.

If Lecornu fails – which is likely, given how fractured and polarised French politics are – it is possible that France will be forced into another election. It was last year’s snap election gamble by Macron that produced a parliament that has made France an almost ungovernable state.

Bayou was trying to take a small step towards stabilising France’s deteriorating finances, cutting spending in an attempt to reduce the country’s budget deficit from an expected 5.4 per cent of GDP this year to 4.6 per cent. His budget included €44 billion ($78 billion) of spending cuts and tax increases.