This is who Gabriel Attal is, the new very young French prime minister chosen by Macron
Out with the expert Elisabeth Borne, inside the young, or rather very young, Gabriel Attal. Emmanuel Macron has chosen the new prime minister and he is the youngest prime minister in the history of France. The political question opened by Borne's step back was resolved in the space of half a day, resulting from the adoption of the controversial immigration law and welcomed with relief by the president looking for a relaunch of a second term in which his popularity appears rather weak .
Already youngest member of the government in 2017, then the youngest Minister of Education, after having become the most popular of the Macronists in a few weeks, he managed to succeed Elisabeth Borne at Palazzo Matignon. That said, not many expected Attal's choice. Known for being a true Macronian, he has been defined in the recent past “perfect man”, “good student” or “the best embodiment of Macronist DNA”. But such a rapid rise was certainly not predictable. Appointed to National Education in July 2023, after a strong year at the Budget Ministry, Attal appeared to seamlessly take over from his predecessor, the intellectual Pap Ndiaye.
The “young Gabriel”, as former prime minister Jean Castex called it, multiplies media interventions and makes repeated announcements, causing some clashes with educational staff and their representatives. At the end of August he modified the much criticized calendar of the new high school diploma, moving the main specialist tests from March to June, as most of the unions had been asking for some time. He also resolves an issue on which school directors have been putting pressure on the ministry for months, banning abayas and qamis in school.
As comfortable in front of the cameras as Pap Ndiaye was discreet, as Le Monde underlines, the Minister of Education was able to adopt countermeasures on thorny issues: faced with the protest triggered by a threatening letter from the rectorate of Versailles to the family of a bullied young man who then he put an end to his life, defends the victims, punishes the rector, promises sanctions. Mbrought the issue of harassment to the fore since the beginning of the school year, participating in the development of an inter-ministerial plan, announcing the establishment of “empathy courses” in schools.
An activism that made him a more popular figure than the government and the entire majority. Attal does not hide his homosexuality: his partner is Stephane Sejourne, group leader of Renew Europe in the European Parliament. That is, the party led by Macron himself. But before joining the ranks of the current president, Attal also grew up in the shadow of Strauss Kahn and worked at the Ministry of Health during the president of François Hollandethe socialist effectively torpedoed by Macron.
Son of a film producer, student at the prestigious Alsatian school in Paris, the construction of his political figure also passes through Italy and in particular Rome: after graduating from Sciences Po, Attal had a one-year experience at Villa Medici, home of the French Academy and hub of French cultural institutions in the Italian capital. In 2018, as government spokesperson, he harshly criticized the Italian government's line on migrants, calling it “vomiting”. An attack on Matteo Salvini who at the time held the role of Interior Minister and Deputy Prime Minister.
With the appointment of Attal, Macron hopes to revive the fortunes of his presidency, which has faced the last three complicated years. Among the first major challenges of Attal's government will also be the development of the organisation Paris Olympic Games scheduled for next summer. An appointment circled in red due to the unknowns on the security and public order front.
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