34-yr-old Gabriel Attal Picked As France's Youngest PM, Becomes 1st Openly Gay Head of Govt

In a new momentum to French leader Emmanuel Macron’s presidency, Gabriel Atta was picked as the youngest prime minister of France on Tuesday. With the latest move, the 34-year-old has become France’s youngest and first openly gay head of government.

Late on Monday, Macron accepted former Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne’s resignation, after several days of speculation regarding the same.

The 62-year old stepped down from the position along with the rest of the government after serving for less than two years in office.

A presidential statement said, “The president of the republic appointed Mr Gabriel Attal prime minister, and tasked him with forming a government.”

Following the announcement, Macron took to X and said, “I know I can count on your energy and your commitment.”

This comes ahead of the Olympic Games in Paris and European parliament elections this summer where Macron’s centrist forces risk defeat at the hands of the far-right under Marine Le Pen.

As Macron looks forward to strengthen his team for the final three years of his presidency, a wider cabinet reshuffle is expected this week.

Attal is set to to bring a major change of style to the office of the prime minister following Borne, only the second woman to lead the French government.

Her austere and no-nonsense demeanour won respect from colleagues but not necessarily popularity from the public, whereas Attal is the most popular figure in government after his stint at the politically crucial education ministry.

Borne’s resignation letter to Macron, a copy of which was seen by AFP, hinted that she would have preferred to stay in her job.

In the letter she wrote, “While I must present the resignation of my government, I wanted to tell you how passionate I was about this mission.”

The reshuffle has been viewed as commentators as an essential move to relaunch Macron’s centrist presidency for its last three years and prevent him becoming a “lame duck” leader after a series of crises.

The new head of government will be the fourth prime minister since 2017 under Macron, who is accused by critics of micro-managing and centralising power in the Elysee.

Who is Gabriel Attal?

Attal will be the youngest prime minister since the founding of the French Fifth Republic in 1958, and will also be the first openly gay man to serve as the country’s second-most powerful politician.

Attal, a former member of the Socialist Party, joined Macron’s newly created political movement in 2016 and was government spokesperson from 2020 to 2022, a job that made him well-known to the French public. He was then named budget minister before being appointed in July as education minister, one of the most prestigious positions in the French government.

A rising star in Macron’s Renaissance Party, he has served as Minister of Education and National Youth since July 2023.

During his tenure, he enacted a controversial ban on the wearing of the abaya in French public schools and has worked on raising awareness of bullying in schools.

He also launched a plan to experiment with uniforms in some public schools, as part of efforts to move the focus away from clothes and reduce school bullying.

Attal recently detailed on national television TF1 how he suffered bullying at middle school, including homophobic harassment.

(with inputs from agencies)