Openly gay, Gabriel Attal is France's youngest Prime Minister at just 34

Emmanuel Macron has appointed 34-year-old Gabriel Attal as the new prime minister of France. He will succeed Elisabeth Borne, who resigned on Monday, and is the youngest French PM in modern history.

Attal is also first openly gay prime minister of France.

Macron in a post on X said, he knows he can count on Attal’s “energy” and “commitment”.

Who is France’s new PM Gabriel Attal?

Attal started his political career by associating himself with the Socialist party as a member, but later joined Macron’s centrist party which is now known as Renaissance.

Before being named as prime minister of France, Attal, born in 1989 in Hauts-de-Seine, served as the National Education Minister of the country.

Attal is considered to be a close ally of Macron. He has already served in a variety of roles, including government spokesperson and public accounts minister.

As per a recent opinion poll, Attal is one of the France’s most popular politicians and has served as government spokesman during Covid pandemic.

He has made a name for himself as a savvy minister, easy on radio shows and also in parliament.

“Gabriel Attal is a bit like the Macron of 2017,” said MP Patrick Vignal, referring to the point at which the President first took office as the youngest leader in modern French history, at the time a popular figure among voters.

Meanwhile, Elisabeth Borne resigned on 8 January after days of mounting speculation about an imminent government reshuffle.

Macron, who is seeking to give a new impetus to his second mandate before European parliament elections scheduled in five months and the Paris Olympics this summer, thanked Borne for her “exemplary work in the service of the nation”.

As per the latest opinion polls, Macron’s party is trailing by eight to 10 points against the far-right leader Marine Le before the June vote.

According to system in France, the president appoints the prime minister but cannot dismiss them from the post. Instead, they must ask for their resignation.

With inputs from agencies