Young Prime Minister Attal must give Macron's presidency new impetus

All signs have been pointing to this since the resignation of French Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne on Monday evening. The name of 34-year-old Minister of Education Gabriel Attal was buzzing all over political Paris. He canceled his annual New Year's greetings speech for the next day and refused to answer questions from the press for almost 24 hours – very unusual for this minister.

When moving vans were seen in front of the Ministry of Education on Tuesday morning, the Parisian news was sure. Just after 12:30 p.m., the Élysée confirmed the rumors: President Emmanuel Macron has appointed Gabriel Attal as Prime Minister of France. On X, the president added that he was “counting on your energy and commitment.”

With the appointment, Attal receives the ultimate reward for his loyalty to what is the 'Macronie' is called. Because Attal has been at his side since the start of Macron's political adventure in 2017. After Macron was elected president for the first time that year, Attal, who was trained as a political scientist, successively became spokesperson for Macron's party La République en marche (now Renaissance), State Secretary for Education, government spokesperson, Minister of Public Finances and Minister of Education. His partner Stéphane Séjourné is also a convinced Macronist: he is Secretary General of Renaissance and chairman of the party's European branch, Renew Europe.

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Paris' profile

Attal has a distinctly Parisian profile. He grew up with three sisters and an adoptive brother in the better neighborhoods of the French capital and went to a chic private school. His mother is descended from a noble family, his father, who died in 2015, was a filmmaker of Tunisian Jewish descent. Attal studied law at Panthéon-Assas University in Paris, followed by a master's degree in public affairs at the prestigious Sciences Po; he graduated in 2012. For years he was active at the Young Socialists, he also worked as an advisor to a Health Minister under François Hollande. At that time, Macron himself was Minister of Economy under this socialist president.

After Macron resigned in 2016 and created his own movement, Attal quickly joined and grew to become one of the faces of the Macronie. Especially in the role of Minister of Education, which Attal has held since July 2023, he was loved by the French public. From one Ipsos poll last month it appears that he is currently the most popular political figure in France – ahead of the beloved former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe and the leader of the radical right Rassemblement National, Marine Le Pen.

The originally left-wing politician opted for a hard position, to the satisfaction of right-wing France. A few weeks after his appointment as Minister of Education, he put himself on the map by announcing an abaya ban in schools because wearing this Arab garment there would go against France's sacred separation of church and state. This far-reaching measure received broad support.

Attal also announced an experiment with school uniforms – an idea from the right – and he repeatedly expressed his support for “the return of authority” in schools. Meanwhile, Attal made the fight against bullying at school one of his core priorities, which was appreciated by many parents after a series of suicides by children who had been bullied.

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By focusing on these mediagenic topics, the young minister became visible: his neat face sometimes stood out several front pages of French magazines. This led to the criticism from education unions that the minister was mainly concerned with his own image and less with the topics that are really important. The fact that he is known for always wanting to be perfectly dressed in photos contributes to this image.

Macron doesn't seem to care. He sees Attal as a loyal and hyper-productive minister who “works in the continuity of what we have been trying to build since 2017,” he said last month. In his tweet on Tuesday, the president wrote that Attal “works in the spirit of 2017: with self-transcendence and daring.” Macron also shows courage by once again opting for a historic appointment: his previous Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne was the first woman in the post in decades, Attal is not only the youngest Prime Minister France has ever had, but also the first openly gay Prime Minister.

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The hell of Matignon

Attal's popularity among the French is important to the president because the departed Borne was particularly unpopular. She started in May 2022 as a relatively undistinguished technocrat and, after twenty months as premier, is mainly seen as the face of the hated pension reform and the controversial immigration law that were implemented under her premiership. The former Prime Minister is also known as madam 49.3 because she introduced laws with that controversial constitutional article 23 times without consulting parliament. This was necessary because Macron does not have an absolute majority in parliament and cooperation with other parties often fails.

With the appointment of Attal and his yet-to-be-formed government, Macron hopes to make a new start with his second term and put the turbulent past year and a half behind him. The question is whether that will work. Not only is Attal mainly seen by the opposition as an extension of Macron and his politics, he also has to deal with a parliament without an absolute majority.

It shows what a thankless task the premiership in France is: the prime minister has to work hard to get the president's ideas implemented and she or he is the one who has to defend them in parliament. In this way, the prime minister absorbs a large part of the criticism, while the president can walk away with the success stories. It is not without reason that France speaks of “the hell of Matignon” – after the official residence where Attal's moving vans drove to.

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