French President Emmanuel Macron on January 9 appointed a 34-year-old ally as France's new prime minister to replace Elisabeth Borne, in an effort to give his administration new momentum just months before European Parliament elections.
Gabriel Attal, most recently France's education minister, has become the first openly gay man to run for the French government and the youngest person to hold the post in the country's modern history.
A rising star in French politics, he takes on the role after a difficult year for Mr Macron, which saw divisive debates over pensions and immigration test the French president's ability to push through reforms.
Although Mr. Macron still has more than three years left in his term, he has begun to consider his “legacy” and is concerned about whether far-right leader Marine Le Pen will win the French presidential election in 2027 after being defeated twice by him in 2017 and 2022.
Mr. Gabriel Attal became the first gay man to run the French government and the youngest person to hold the position of Prime Minister in the country's modern history. Photo: Getty Images
European elections in June will be the clearest example of the rise of the far right. So far, the outlook for Mr Macron remains bleak, with Ms Le Pen’s National Rally (NR) easily outpacing Mr Macron’s centrist party in polls of voting intentions.
“Macron desperately needs a fresh start,” said Melody Mock-Gruet, a Paris-based parliamentary affairs expert.
The appointment of a new prime minister, however, would not necessarily lead to any major political change, but would signal Mr Macron's desire to try to push through unpopular pension and immigration reforms last year.
The French president said in a post on social network X/Twitter that he was counting on Mr. Attal's "energy and commitment to implementing the reconstruction and renewal plan that I have announced."
Mr Attal’s popularity with the French has grown since he took over the education ministry last July. A former member of the Socialist Party, he joined Mr Macron’s En Marche (On the Move) movement ahead of the 2017 presidential election, and the two have maintained a close relationship ever since.
A survey conducted by Ipos in December 2023 showed that Mr. Gabriel Attal is the most popular politician in France. Photo: The Guardian
Educated at Paris’s prestigious Sciences Po university, Mr Attal is one of the few ministers to remain in the cabinet after Mr Macron’s re-election in 2022. As budget minister, Mr Attal oversaw fiscal bills that provided extra spending for households during the energy crisis and a plan to cut tax fraud. He also served as a spokesman for the French government.
Mr Attal is known for his willingness to speak out publicly on any issue that comes his way and his talent for finding the interesting and relevant. His outstanding communication skills and ability to “improvise” and answer questions in Parliament and in public have earned him the nickname “The Linguistic Sniper”.
Appointed Prime Minister of France at the age of just 34, Mr. Gabriel Attal joins the ranks of the youngest leaders in Europe.
Former Austrian leader Sebastian Kurz became prime minister of the Alpine nation in 2017, aged just 31. Former Finnish prime minister Sanna Marin took over the government of the Nordic nation in 2019, aged 34.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban first won the job in 1998 when he was just 35. Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar and former Estonian Prime Minister Jüri Ratas were both 38 when they first became leaders of their countries.
And not to mention, Mr. Macron himself was only 39 years old when he became President of France in 2017 .
Minh Duc (According to Bloomberg, Reuters, The Guardian)
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