Gabriel Attal, the 34-year-old Education Minister, was named prime minister by French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday. Macron wants to give his second term new life before the polls for the European Parliament.
The move might not cause a big change in politics, but it shows that Macron wants to move on from last year’s unpopular changes to immigration and pensions. He also wants to improve the chances of his center-right party in the June EU election.
He will be the youngest and first publicly gay prime minister of France.
Polls show that Macron’s group is eight to ten percentage points behind Marine Le Pen’s party, which is led by the far right.
Attal, a close ally of Macron who became famous as the government spokeswoman during the COVID-19 pandemic, will take over as Prime Minister from Elisabeth Borne, who is leaving her job.
Recent polls show that Attal is one of the most well-liked leaders in the country. He has made a name for himself as a smart minister who is at ease on radio shows and in parliament.
Macron wrote on X, “Dear Gabriel Attal, I know I can count on your energy and your commitment to carry out the project of revitalization and regeneration that I announced.” At the end of last year, he said he would be announcing new political initiatives.
Together, he and Macron are a little younger than Joe Biden, who is running for a second term as vice president in the US election this year.
Since he lost his absolute majority soon after being re-elected in 2022, Macron has had a harder time controlling a more unstable government.
“Macron wants to cling to his popularity in the polls to ease the pain of an endless end to his reign by appointing Gabriel Attal,” said Jordan Bardella, the 28-year-old leader of Le Pen’s National Rally party.
“Rather, he risks falling with the short-lived Education Minister.”
Soon after Macron became prime minister, other party leaders said they didn’t expect much from the new leader. Macron will be making most of the decisions.
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The head of the Socialist Party, Olivier Faure, told France Inter radio, “It doesn’t matter who wins—Elisabeth Borne, Gabriel Attal, or someone else. The policies will be the same.”
However, MP Patrick Vignal of Macron’s Renaissance party said that Attal is “a bit like the Macron of 2017.” He was referring to the year that the President became the youngest leader in modern French history and was very popular with voters.
“Attal is clear, he has power,” Vignal said.
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