French opposition submits no-confidence motion against government

ISTANBUL

France’s opposition on Friday submitted a no-confidence motion against the government of Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu.

Mathilde Panot, deputy leader of the parliamentary group of the far-left France Unbowed (LFI) party, announced the move, saying Lecornu and President Emmanuel Macron “must go.”

“France humiliated in Brussels by Mercosur, which Macron has never blocked in eight years in power,” Panot wrote on US social media platform X.

The motion comes despite France voting against the EU-Mercosur agreement – a free trade deal between the European Union and Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay– which was approved Friday by a qualified majority of EU member states.

The trade deal has faced strong criticism in France, particularly from farmers and several political parties, over concerns about competition, environmental standards and agricultural sovereignty.

Panot also said France had been “humiliated” internationally by the government’s failure to condemn Washington’s military operation in Venezuela.

Responding to the motion, Lecornu defended the government’s stance, saying France’s opposition to the Mercosur deal is “clear” and “comes as no surprise.”

“Filing a motion of no confidence in this context means deliberately choosing to display internal partisan disagreements,” Lecornu said on social media. “It means choosing to weaken France’s voice rather than showing national unity in the defense of our agriculture.”

He urged political groups to focus instead on building a majority within the European Parliament to block the agreement.

Lecornu also warned that the motion would further delay budget discussions, which he said are already stalled by the opposition, and that it “sends a very bad signal abroad” at a time of heightened international tensions and an ongoing agricultural crisis.