FRENCH President Emmanuel Macron, on Tuesday, January 9, appointed 34-year-old Education Minister, Gabriel Attal, as the country’s new Prime Minister in attempt to breathe new life into his second mandate ahead of European parliament elections.
Though this might not necessarily lead to any major political shift, but it signals Macron’s desire to move beyond last year’s unpopular pension and immigration reforms and improve his centrist party’s chances in this year’s June EU elections.
Opinion polls show Macron’s camp trailing far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s party by around eight to 10 percentage points.
Attal, a close Macron ally, who became a household name as government spokesman during the COVID-19 pandemic, replaces outgoing Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne.
Attal, one of the country’s most popular politicians in recent opinion polls, has made a name for himself as a savvy minister at ease, on radio shows and in parliament.
Macron, at the end of 2023, had said he would announce new political initiatives, and the nomination of Attal, the first open gay prime minister, perhaps heralds that desire.
