The year was characterized by political upheavals brought on by controversial changes to immigration and pension policies, which led to the resignation of the prime minister.

In an attempt to revitalize his second mandate ahead of the summer Olympics in Paris and the elections to the European Parliament, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne resigned on Monday.

Macron refrained from naming her replacement right away. Additionally, it occurs just five months before elections to the European Parliament, when eurosceptics are predicted to make historic gains amid general public unhappiness with rising living expenses and the inability of European governments to control immigration.

Before the June election, opinion polls in France indicate that Macron’s party is about eight to ten points behind that of far-right leader Marine Le Pen.

Since the tight passage of stricter immigration laws in parliament revealed serious divisions among Macron’s centrist majority, there have been many rumors of a government shake-up in the weeks that have passed. Macron pledged to launch a fresh political campaign.

The 34-year-old Gabriel Attal, the minister of education, and the 37-year-old Sebastien Lecornu, the minister of defense, are mentioned as possible successors to Borne. If chosen, either of them would become the youngest prime minister in French history.

Pundits have also suggested former agriculture minister Julien Denormandie and finance minister Bruno Le Maire as potential candidates.

The prime minister’s resignation will not necessarily result in a change in political strategy; rather, it will indicate a desire to put new objectives ahead of the pension and immigration reforms, such as achieving full employment.

Borne, the prime minister since May 2022, is a soft-spoken career bureaucrat who worked for multiple ministers in the Socialist Party before entering Macron’s administration.

She was the second woman to hold the position, and she was 62 years old. Shortly after Macron was reelected for a second term in 2022, Borne’s cabinet and Macron have found it difficult to cope with a more tumultuous parliament to pass bills.

Despite the lack of an absolute majority, the advisors to the French president claimed that he had passed the most difficult portions of his economic programme in the first year and a half of his second term and that subsequent reforms—on euthanasia and education, for example—will be more cooperative.

However, weeks of violent protests were instigated by Macron’s use of executive powers last year to pass a contentious rise in the pension age to 64.

The reorganization is probably going to make it more competitive in Macron’s camp for the presidency in 2027; Le Maire, Interior Minister Gerard Darmanin, and former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe are all considered possible contenders.