Who is Gabriel Attal? Everything you need to know about France’s youngest Prime Minister

He has risen from work experience intern to prime minister. Here is everything you need to know about Gabriel Attal.

He has risen from work experience recruit to the role of French Prime Minister in just over a decade.

But who is Gabriel Attal?

Mr Attal has landed the top job at just 34, as President Emmanuel Macron aims to revive his presidency with a new government.

He will now have the task of leading the French government into important European Parliament elections in June.

Mr Attal has even drawn comparisons to Mr Macron, who became the youngest President in modern French history when he was elected at age 39.

Here is everything you need to know about France’s newest Prime minister.

WHO IS THE NEW FRENCH PM?

As of Tuesday, Mr Attal became France’s youngest prime minister at 34 and the first openly gay leader of the government.

Mr Attal is the son of Yves Attal, a lawyer and film producer of Tunisian Jewish descent who died in 2015, and Marie de Couriss, who is descended from Orthodox Christians from Odesa.

He grew up in Paris with his three younger sisters and earned degrees from Sciences Po and Paris-Panthéon-Assas University.

Gabriel Attal has become France’s youngest head of government. Picture: AFP

French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal makes his first official visit to the residents affected by the floods in northern France following the handover ceremony at the Hotel Matignon in Paris.Picture: AFP

HOW DID HE GET APPOINTED?

Mr Attal’s appointment comes a day after his predecessor, Élisabeth Borne, resigned following a tumultuous 20 months in office.

During Ms Borne’s time in office she was forced to override parliament on multiple occasions to ram through Mr Macron’s legislative proposals on major topics such as labour reform and immigration.

In her resignation letter, Ms Borne suggested she resigned at Mr Macron’s request, citing the president’s “will” to “appoint a new prime minister.”

Under the French system, the president appoints the prime minister but cannot dismiss them from the post. Instead, they must ask for their resignation.

Ms Borne, 62 was appointed prime minister in May 2022, shortly after Mr Macron was re-elected and she was the second female prime minister since the Fifth Republic began in 1958.

She described herself as a “woman of the left” and found herself under fire from opposite sides of the political spectrum.

Prime Minister Gabriel Attal is welcomed by outgoing prime minister Elisabeth Borne. Picture: AFP

WILL ATTAL REPLACE MACRON?

Under the French system, the president sets general policies and the prime minister is responsible for day-to-day government management, meaning the latter often pays the price when an administration runs into turbulence.

Mr Attal will be in charge of implementing domestic policy, most notably economic measures, and co-ordinating the government’s team of ministers.

Many say Mr Macron’s move to get Mr Attal on board is being seen as a boost of popularity before the European Parliament elections in June.

Mr Macron has faced off against a more turbulent parliament after he lost an absolute majority shortly after being re-elected in 2022.

WHAT’S HIS POLITICAL BACKGROUND?

Mr Attal joined the Socialist Party when he was 17 and rose to prominence in French politics after being named government spokesman during the pandemic.

He would later be named as a junior minister in the finance ministry, making a name for himself as one of Mr Macron’s savviest cabinet ministers and a smooth communicator.

A longtime Macron loyalist, Mr Attal was then appointed education minister in the last government reshuffle in July.

Despite his left-leaning past, his first move as education minister was to ban the Muslim abaya dress in state schools, making him popular among conservatives.

Mr Attal cited the core French principle of secularism in the public space. Politicians on the left and centre-left accused him of violating individual rights while playing to right-wing voters.

The PM will be in charge of implementing domestic policy. Picture: AFP

Newly appointed Prime Minister Gabriel Attal delivers a speech. Picture: AFP

WHO IS HE IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH?

Mr Attal is the first openly gay head of government in France’s history.

He was outed as gay by an old school associate in 2018, when he was in a relationship with Stephane Sejourne, Mr Macron’s former political adviser.

In November, he confided on public TV channel TF1’s “Sept à huit” program that he had told his father: “Dad, I’ve fallen in love with a boy.”

Shortly after his appointment as Prime Minister, Mr Attal posted on X that he was honoured and would work “with strength, humility and without taboos in service of the French people.”

A RISING STAR

The 34-year-old’s appointment to the top job sparked a social media storm.

“Ooh la la!” one person wrote while reacting the news on X.

Another responded: “What a fine young man!”

While a third said: “Giving (Canadian PM Justin) Trudeau a run for his money.”

A recent Ipsos-Le Point opinion poll suggested he is France’s most popular politician, albeit with an approval rating of just 40 per cent.

“I know that I can count on your energy and your commitment to push through the project of civic rearmament and regeneration that I have announced,” Mr Macron said in a message addressed to Mr Attal on X. “In loyalty to the spirit of 2017: transcendence and boldness.”