Residents jeer French PM on visit to fire-hit region

MERIGNAC, France – French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu on Aug 17 announced measures to help residents of the south-west hit by wildfires rebuild their lives, after being jeered by locals dissatisfied by the government’s response to the disaster.

Help will include some €12 million (S$17.8 million) of aid for the Gironde and Landes regions of south-west France worst hit by the fires, as well as fast-track processes to rebuild homes.

Earlier, dozens of residents heckled the premier as he arrived in the region stricken by fires in late July and early August.

Some 200 people dressed in black gathered in front of the town hall in Le Porge in the Gironde region, where 183 homes burned down.

They jeered, whistled and shouted anti-government slogans as the tinted-window car, with a flashing light, carrying Lecornu approached for a meeting with the mayor of Le Porge, an AFP correspondent said.

“Where is he? Where is he?” the crowd shouted.

Meeting the residents “would have been the least he could do”, said Tony Veiga, a 65-year-old pensioner. “It really amounts to treating us as if we don’t matter.”

Lecornu’s office said he had spoken to affected residents and farmers.

“We have absolutely nothing to hide regarding how fire protection operations have been conducted over the past few weeks,” Lecornu said as he met local officials in the nearby town of Merignac after leaving Le Porge.

He had already visited Le Porge on the afternoon of Aug 16 to tour the municipality with the mayor – a trip that had not been announced and took place without press cameras.

‘Things we wanted to say’

Speaking in Merignac, Lecornu announced that building permits for the “equivalent reconstruction” of homes destroyed by the fires would be issued within a month, or even quicker.

Meanwhile, the €12 million of aid, available immediately, “will allow local authorities to launch projects without delay and, ultimately, enable them to build a sort of recovery plan”, he added. Some €10 million will go to the Gironde region and €2 million to the Landes region to the south.

Lecornu also warned he would denounce any insurers who “do not play the game”.

There is anger among some residents in the region who allege that the authorities prioritised fighting fires in the upscale Cap-Ferret peninsula – where many affluent Parisians take holidays – over protecting the homes of locals.

“He doesn’t want to meet us; it’s a shame. We had things we wanted to say,” said Ludivine Daurignac, organiser of a group of affected residents who plan to file complaints and get “truth, transparency, and justice”.

“We were met by lines of riot police blocking our access,” she added.

Having burned through 42,000ha, the fire was brought under control on Aug 1.

It was the largest such fire in France by surface area since 1949, with the flames coming within 15km of the Bordeaux metropolitan area and forcing the evacuation of more than 220,000 residents and tourists.

The crisis has been a major test for Lecornu, 40, who was named as prime minister by President Emmanuel Macron in September 2025.

While he has denied having any presidential ambitions, Le Monde daily reported in an article published on Aug 16 that the president’s office was increasingly looking at Lecornu as a viable centrist candidate for the 2027 elections when Macron’s mandate runs out. AFP