Gabriel Attal, 34, was appointed this Tuesday by President Emmanuel Macron as the new Prime Minister of France, replacing Élisabeth Borne, who had been in the position for twenty months. Attal is the youngest head of government of the Fifth Republic.
A socialist militant for ten years, Attal has been Minister of National Education for the last five months. Previously, he was in charge of Public Accounts and was also spokesperson for the Executive. With this bold appointment, Macron tries to resume the initiative to relaunch a second term, which must conclude in the spring of 2027. A great challenge is governing without having an absolute majority in Parliament. Like Macron, Attal is a skilled communicator and hyperactive politician.
Although it is the power of the president, the appointment has required a complex negotiation between the various factions of Macronism to respect the balance and manage the ambitions of the most senior ministers, such as the Economy Minister, Bruno Le Maine, and the Interior Minister, Gérald Darmanin. , both potential candidates to take over from Macron in 2027.
Attal is a prototype of the Parisian cosmopolitan bourgeoisie. His father, Yves Attal, is a well-known lawyer and film producer originally from a Tunisian Jewish family. His mother, who works in a production company, comes from White Russians from Odessa, of Greek descent and Orthodox creed.
The new head of the Executive trained at the prestigious Alsatian School in the capital. He then graduated from Sciences Po, one of the most famous political science faculties in the world.
At a very young age, Attal had the singer Joyce Jonathan, a classmate at the Alsatian School, as a girlfriend. But a couple of years ago she married another man, Stéphane Séjourné, MEP and general secretary of Macron’s party, Renaissance, one of the members of Macron’s inner circle since he set out to conquer the Elysée in 2017.
The commitment to Attal should also be interpreted as an attempt by Macron to contain the advance of the extreme right, the favorite in the European elections next June. The candidate of the National Rally (RN, Le Pen’s party), is another very young politician, Jordan Bardella, 28 years old, skilled dialectically. The political duel between Attal and Bardella promises to be interesting.
