French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu at the Assemblée Nationale in Paris, January 7, 2026. JULIEN MUGUET FOR LE MONDE
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu over the weekend faced criticism, including from his own coalition, after raising the prospect of dissolving France's Assemblée Nationale. Lecornu on Friday had instructed Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez to prepare for the possibility of snap parliamentary elections on the same dates as the upcoming municipal elections on March 15 and 22. But MPs, seeing the move as blackmail, were far from impressed.
Lecornu's threat, in response to the two motions of no-confidence from the opposition over France's inability to stop the European Union's trade deal with Mercosur, "makes no sense," said former president François Hollande on Sunday on radio France Inter. "The role of a prime minister (…) is to provide some stability where there is anxiety," the Socialist said.
He was not alone. "Instrumentalizing the threat of dissolution to scare parliamentary groups worried about their own political survival is neither worthy of the office nor in keeping with the spirit of our institutions," condemned Xavier Bertrand of right-wing party Les Républicains (LR). "You do not lead a country through fear, pressure or institutional blackmail."
