French PM heckled over wildfire response as blazes continue across Europe

Lecornu attended a meeting in Merignac on Monday after being booed by residents in Le Porge French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has been heckled on a visit to the area of the country worst hit by wildfires, as blazes continue to cause further deaths and evacuations across Europe. About 200 people gathered at the town hall in Le Porge, south-western France, on Monday, where 183 homes burned down. The organiser of a group of affected residents accused the prime minister of not wanting to meet them, while Lecornu's office it has "nothing to hide" about how fire operations have been conducted, AFP reports. The prime minister announced €12m (£10.3m) of aid for the Gironde and Landes regions, while the EU deployed assistance to Belgium and Spain. Lecornu said the aid, of which €10m (£8.5m) will go to Gironde and €2m (£1.7m) to Landes, will allow local authorities to "launch projects without delay" and build "a sort of recovery plan".

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Scoop News DeskEurope · Published Monday, August 17, 2026 at 6:00 PM UTCUpdated Tuesday, August 18, 2026 at 4:16 PM UTC

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