"Another dissolution? We're ultra-ready!": Halfway through her term, RN MP Alexandra Masson looks back on her parliamentary work

Elected in 2022 under the National Rally banner, Alexandra Masson is continuing her term as a member of parliament in an unprecedented institutional context. While her term was due to end in 2027, her re-election following the dissolution of the National Assembly has paved the way for a legislative term extended until 2029.

The MP has resumed her parliamentary work where she left off. With a few changes: she has moved from the Sustainable Development and Regional Planning Committee to the Foreign Affairs Committee, while also taking the lead of the RN 06 Federation. All this, combined with her role as national spokesperson for her party, the Nice lawyer is tending to establish herself as one of the leading figures of the RN for the years to come. Halfway through her (theoretical) mandate, the elected representative for the 4th constituency of the Alpes-Maritimes — which notably includes Menton — looked back on three years of parliamentary action in an interview with Nice-Matin (1) .

Putting the dissolution aside, how do you judge your first part of the mandate?

I'm very positive. In the Assembly and in my constituency. We've worked on many substantive and local issues. The MP is still one of the few elected officials who are clearly identified by voters and who is in high demand for everyday things that we don't necessarily imagine. And it's working. The proof is that we achieved the same score in the first round in 2024 as we did in the second round in 2022. That's the reality of the ballot box, and it's a tremendous recognition for my team and me.

Is the role of MP what you imagined it to be?

There's a difference with what I experienced when I was a parliamentary attaché 20 years ago. Today there's a very weak and very fractured majority, which means the opposition has to work as hard as the majority. That wasn't the case before. And this mandate is very exhausting because of that. We can win through our presence, so we have to be very mobilized, and that's very exhausting. Not just the RN, by the way; it exhausts everyone. Except the LR, who sit very little... They're fractured among themselves, so they're less tired than us!

And what about the general atmosphere? It feels very tense in the chamber...

In 2022, it was quite violent. It was calmer in 2023 and then it became tense again since 2024. Because, among other things, of foreign policy which has interfered a lot since the pogrom of October 7, 2023. We have a major conflict in the Middle East which has been added to that of Ukraine. We know that we have radical pro-Islamist network in the Assembly who are in pure electoralism and Greens who have become more and more radicalized between 2022 and 2025, LR is true to itself… The context after the dissolution has worsened a little. We have stayed on our trajectory by being more and more demanding.

The specter of dissolution still looms large. It's been a possibility again for a few days now. Are you thinking about it?

If there's a new one, we're ultra-ready! We have new waves of high-quality nominations that have been made. New faces in addition to the old ones. Where there may have been hiccups—we're not going to hide it—there won't be any more. If there's a dissolution tomorrow in a month or at the end of the year, we'll be ready. This episode was special. On the evening of the European elections, I was on a TV set to comment on the RN's great result in the elections. I learned of the dissolution live. It's a strange feeling that goes through you because you're experiencing a moment of celebration and at the same time you learn that you're no longer an MP. We had to go back out on the campaign trail the next day. Physically, it was complicated.

A notable case?

The flash mission on Storm Alex which resulted in a law [aimed at streamlining administrative procedures for reconstruction work in the event of climatic events Editor's note] , which is not always the case. There is all the work on maritime and air transport that I wanted to continue, even though I changed commissions. And, with the Mediterranean Circle that I created in 2022, I could not miss the UNOC shift which made it possible to address many issues. We had small victories like the ratification of the BBNJ agreement (on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity) by Lebanon. These are issues on which the RN had not positioned itself. Not out of desire, but we need people to carry these issues forward. This will have an impact right up to the municipal level since mayors will be able to issue decrees against plastic.

You advocate a so-called "realistic" ecology by defending air travel and opposing environmental restrictions. Where do you draw the line between economic realism and climate emergency?

On the ecological level, we will never please everyone. I am against ultra-punitive ecology. ZFE (local economic zones) are a good example. People sitting in Paris are establishing perimeters where people can no longer drive a thermal vehicle. It doesn't make sense... We have to balance things, but some don't have the means, that's why I talk about realism. Wind power costs a fortune, it doesn't work everywhere, and when you dismantle it, it involves tons of materials that are difficult to recycle, all for energy that can't be stored. If we can do it, we do it, but not under duress and when it doesn't make sense. In ecology, we don't use science and technology enough. There are tons of patents sitting in cupboards. Geothermal energy, for example, is underexploited. Today, realistic ecology means that each territory will have to value the resources it has.

You have spoken out on the immigration law, particularly regarding bone tests. What is the situation today?

The law wasn't passed, in particular, because of the LR (Republican Party), because it didn't come from them... It hasn't aged a day. It's still relevant and will be even more effective in the years to come. It'll come back to the table. I'm sure of it.

You are very active on cross-border issues. How do you reconcile this position with the RN's rather sovereignist line, which has often been critical of European cooperation?

It's different. Just because you're a sovereignist doesn't mean you don't want to talk to your sovereignist friends. We each know we want to defend our territories, but we also know we can work together. For Europe, it's different. Pro-European MPs aren't very cross-border. I believe that being a sovereignist and a patriot means working with your neighbor who doesn't have the same culture and seeing how to create shared projects that are rewarding for both. With our Italian neighbors, we need each other. There were resentments in the past, but today, there's a new generation and new challenges in which we can find complementarities. All of this is not incompatible.

1- Our interview took place before the adoption of the Duplomb Law (which notably provides for the reintroduction of a neonicotinoid pesticide). As a result, we were unable to ask Alexandra Masson the reasons for her vote in favor of this controversial bill.