He banned abayas in schools, is openly gay: Meet Gabriel Attal, France’s youngest PM

France has a new prime minister, a day after Elisabeth Borne resigned from the post. French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday (9 January) appointed 34-year-old Gabriel Attal as the new PM, making him the youngest-ever person to hold the high-profile job.

“I know I can count on your energy and your commitment to implement the rearmament and regeneration project that I announced,” Macron wrote on X for the young politician. The French leader said he wanted Attal to revive the “spirit of 2017”, referring to the year when Macron first came to power becoming France’s youngest-ever president.

Attal is also France’s first openly gay prime minister. He is currently serving as the minister of education and national youth of the country.

Who is Gabriel Attal?

Gabriel Attal comes from a privileged background and his career has seen a stupendous rise under Macron. Growing up in Paris, he studied at the École Alsacienne, the elite private school of choice for high-profile parents in politics and the arts, according to The Guardian.

Attal recently recalled on national television TF1 how he was bullied in middle school, including being subjected to homophobic harassment, reported Associated Press (AP).

He has a masters in public affairs from the prestigious Sciences Po University in Paris.

As per The Guardian report, Attal started his political career with the Socialist Party in 2006. He bagged a full-time job at the health ministry at the age of 23 after gaining work experience in the office of the then health minister Marisol Touraine in 2012.

Attal joined Macron’s newly formed political movement in 2016 and has since risen steadily through the political ranks, noted The Guardian.

A close ally of Macron, Attal was named the secretary of state at the education ministry at 29, becoming the youngest member of the government under the Fifth Republic.

He has held many important political jobs, including as the government spokesperson from 2020 to 2022 which made him a well-known face among the French public.

Attal was the budget minister before taking over the education ministry last July. As education minister, he announced the controversial ban on the abaya – long robes worn by Muslim women –in French public schools.

He led a campaign against bullying and launched a plan to experiment with uniforms in some public schools, reported AP. Attal, who is in a civil partnership with 38-year-old Stéphane Séjourné, secretary general of Macron’s Renaissance Party, was elected to the Assemblée National in June last year.

According to The Guardian, Attal’s politics has apparently shifted from the centre-left to centre-right over the last decade.

His “formidable” communication skills and quick thinking in deflecting questions in Parliament and the public have earned him the monicker Word Sniper, the British daily reported.

Why has Emmanuel Macron brought him now?

Emmanuel Macron is seeking a fresh start for the remainder of his term in the wake of growing political pressure from the far right. His unpopular pension and immigration reforms last year evoked the public’s ire leading to a wave of protests.

Macron’s personal disapproval rating is currently 68 per cent, according to a Politico aggregate of polls.

Polls show that Attal is the most popular government minister. As prime minister, he will be tasked with forming a new government and ensuring the passage of legislation that furthers Macron’s agenda.

While his appointment does not indicate any major political shift, Macron is aiming to improve his centrist party’s prospects in the June European Union elections, reported Reuters.

“By appointing Gabriel Attal … Emmanuel Macron wants to cling to his popularity in opinion polls to alleviate the pain of an interminable end to his reign,” Jordan Bardella, the 28-year-old leader of Le Pen’s National Rally party, was quoted as saying by Reuters.

“Instead, he risks taking the short-lived Education Minister with him in his fall.”

As per CNN, the French president is likely looking for a political reset ahead of EU ballot and the upcoming Olympics in Paris. Macron’s party is facing a stiff challenge in this summer’s European polls.

Constitutional expert Benjamin Morel said to AFP that Attal’s appointment signals a “very offensive strategy with a view to the European elections” in June.

Political consultant Julien Hoez told CNBC that Macron picked Attal over senior leaders to avoid infighting within the party before the elections. “There have been many rumors of friction between Macron and Borne, with Borne resistant to be seen as the sacrificial lamb fronting the government’s less popular positions,” he said.

“Attal is reasonably well known, with a reputation for working hard. But overall policy is not going to change much from Macron’s existing agenda,” Hoez explained.

With inputs from agencies