Sébastien Lecornu did not at all appreciate the two motions of censure filed this Friday by La France insoumise (LFI) and the National Rally (RN) – both concerning Mercosur. The Prime Minister first reacted in an unusual publication on his part on the social network X, denouncing “cynical and partisan postures”.
“To table a motion of censure in this context is to deliberately choose to display internal political disagreements. It is choosing to weaken the voice of France rather than showing national unity in the defense of our agriculture,” he wrote.
Pressure shot
The executive does not want to stop there, according to our information, and warns of the consequences if the motion of censure is adopted: it will be a dissolution. To carry out this threat, Sébastien Lecornu asked the Minister of the Interior, Laurent Nunez, to prepare legislative elections just in case. They would take place on the same days as the municipal elections, March 15 and 22. If the decision to dissolve lies solely with the President of the Republic, he is aligned with the positions of his Prime Minister, according to a source within the executive.
The executive wants to put pressure on the deputies who would be tempted to vote for this censure beyond those who will certainly vote for it. If the RN motion will not be voted for by the left, that of LFI can prosper and attract all those who want to bring down the government.
For Sébastien Lecornu, these two motions of censure are “incomprehensible”, assures a relative, given the fact that France has chosen to speak out against Mercosur. But by raising the specter of dissolution, the executive also takes the risk of stoking tensions and having a result opposite to what it hopes for, even if the probability of a fall of the government is low.
Around fifteen tangent PS deputies
MPs are warned: in the event of censorship, this will not be the scenario of December 2024 or September 2025, when the fall of the government had no other consequence than the appointment of a new Prime Minister. François Bayrou replaced Michel Barnier the first time – less than a year after the dissolution of June 2024, the Constitution did not authorize the head of state to provoke new legislative elections -, and Sébastien Lecornu took over from the mayor of Pau the second time.
It targets in particular the fifteen PS deputies who are still on the fence about censoring the government, but not necessarily very keen on the idea of returning to their voters. Since the explosion of the New Popular Front last year, the left risks being disunited in the event of new legislative elections. But a new dissolution would have serious consequences for Emmanuel Macron, whose second term was darkened and paralyzed by that of June 2024, which continues to cause political earthquakes. Two governments have been overthrown and the current Prime Minister is struggling to find an agreement on a budget for 2026.
Budget and agricultural crisis
The two motions of censure, which will be debated next week, disrupt discussions on the budget, which will return to the National Assembly at the same time. They add tension at a time when France is going through a serious agricultural crisis. Amélie de Montchalin, the Minister of Public Accounts, also provided an update this Friday at the end of the day. “If there is no government, there will be no solution for farmers,” she warned during the presentation by the executive of its measures in favor of farmers. “This plan depends on our ability to have a budget, and a real budget,” she added.
