Meet Gabriel Attal, France’s newest and youngest ever prime minister
Gabriel Attal became France’s youngest ever and first openly gay prime minister on Tuesday.
Associated Press
Gabriel Attal became France’s youngest ever and first openly gay prime minister on Tuesday.
Attal, 34, replaced Élisabeth Borne following her resignation on Monday.
“I know I can count on your energy and your commitment,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, following the announcement.
Macron added that the appointment was reminiscent of the “spirit of 2017,” the year when he became France’s youngest president.
“I could read and hear it: The youngest president of the Republic in history appoints the youngest prime minister in history. I want to see it only as the symbol of boldness and movement. It is also, and perhaps above all, a symbol of confidence in young people,” Attal said during a ceremony.
In a speech on Tuesday, Attal said his goals as prime minister include making security an “absolute priority” and promoting values of “authority and respect of others.”
He also vowed to strengthen public services, including schools and the health system, and push for “better-controlling immigration.”
Attal’s position makes him one of the highest-elected LGBTQ politicians. Attal, who most recently served as the education minister, will now lead the French government into the European Parliament elections this June.
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Who is Gabriel Attal?
Attal has been a rising star in France’s politics for the past decade, the BBC reported. He began his career as an adviser in the health ministry and as a member of the Socialists party. NPR reported that he left the Socialists to join Macron’s newly created political movement in 2016.
He became a member of parliament in 2017 and quickly caught Macron’s attention for being a strong debater, the BBC reported.
He served as a government spokesperson during the pandemic in 2020 and briefly served as a budget minister after Macron was re-elected in 2022. In July of 2023, he became the education minister, NPR reported.
In his role as education minister, Attal banned abaya’s, long robes, mainly worn by Muslim women from schools. He said the garments were testing secularism in schools, NPR reported.
He also attempted to introduce uniforms in schools and led an anti-bullying campaign. Attal said he was bullied when he was at the elite École alsacienne in Paris, the BBC reported.
Attal becomes first openly gay prime minister
Attal will be the country’s first openly gay prime minister. He is in a civil partnership with Stéphane Sejourné, a member of the European Parliament since 2019, the BBC reported.
He came out as gay in 2018. Reuters reported that an old school associate in had outed him shortly after he was named a junior minister.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.