PARIS, January 9. /TASS/. Gabriel Attal has been named France’s new Prime Minister, the BFMTV television channel reported.
According to the TV channel, Education Minister Gabriel Attal, 34, will replace Elisabeth Borne, who had served as France's Prime Minister since May 2022, after she was dismissed by President Emmanuel Macron on Monday.
Youngest prime minister on record
Attal becomes France’s youngest prime minister ever, a mark previously held by Laurent Fabius, who was appointed French prime minister at the age of 37 back in 1984.
Attal was born in Clamart, a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, on March 16, 1989 to father Yves Attal, a lawyer and film producer of Tunisian-Jewish descent, and mother Marie de Couriss, who came from a family of Orthodox Christians who emigrated to France from Odessa.
Attal has three sisters. He graduated from Paris’ Institute of Political Sciences, also known as Sciences Po. He also has a diploma in law from the Paris-Pantheon-Assas University.
Political career
Attal began his political career as a member of the Socialist Party but left it to join Macron’s La Republique En Marche (LREM) movement, becoming a close ally of the French president. The young politician was elected to parliament with the presidential movement. In 2020, Macron named him secretary of state and government spokesman.
In May 2022, Attal was appointed public accounts minister and was promoted to head one of the key ministries - the education ministry - in July 2023.
Throughout his political career, he has earned a reputation of a man of action, a competent and ambitious politician. According to BFMTV, Attal is the most popular minister in the current government. "He straightens out everything he takes up," a ruling party member said.
According to political analysts, one of Attal’s key tasks as prime minister will be to ensure the ruling Renaissance party’s success at the upcoming elections to the European Parliament in June.