The popular Minister of Education Gabriel Attal became on Tuesday January 9, 2024 at the age of 34 the youngest head of government in the history of the French Republic, the first openly homosexual too, following a supposed ministerial reshuffle. breathe new life into the presidency of Emmanuel Macron.

First hoped for on Monday evening, this appointment, made official by the Elysée, took very long hours to take place. A delay which fueled speculation about possible internal resistance – notably from government heavyweights Gérald Darmanin (Interior) and Bruno Le Maire (Economy), denied by those concerned.

Three years before the end of his second term, the head of state finds himself in a delicate situation faced with the continued breakthrough of the extreme right in the country and the absence of an absolute majority in the National Assembly.

Since his re-election in 2022, Macron has also faced growing discontent which has manifested itself during the adoption of pension reform, and more recently a very
controversial law on immigration.

Described as a ‘good student’, or even as ‘the best incarnation of Macronist DNA’, Gabriel Attal, who entered the government in 2017 and who experienced a spectacular rise, finally imposed himself to everyone’s surprise to succeed Elisabeth Borne in Matignon, after the resignation of the latter Monday late afternoon.

A Macronist from the start, the new Prime Minister, who makes no secret of his homosexuality, had become the most popular figure in the government and the majority, convincing one in two French people, while more than a third of they called for his nomination to Matignon in a recent study.

– Precarious balance –

He thus wins over two personalities presented in recent days as the favorites: the technocrat and former Minister of Agriculture Julien Denormandie, 43 years old, in the shadow of the president for 10 years, and Sébastien Lecornu, 37 years old, current minister of the Armies from the right.

In France, the president in principle sets the main guidelin
es for the five-year term, while his Prime Minister, responsible for implementing the program and the daily management of the government, generally pays the price in the event of turbulence.

After days of suspense and persistent rumors about an imminent departure, Elisabeth Borne, 62, finally had to leave her post. A starter several times during her 20 months at Matignon, she had demonstrated her resilience by succeeding in passing difficult laws and overcoming nearly thirty motions of censure in the Assembly.

The choice of his successor is far from neutral in maintaining the precarious balance of the presidential camp, recently undermined by divisions over immigration law. If the boss of the deputies of the ruling Renaissance party, Sylvain Maillard, assured on the LCI channel that his troops ‘will work in complete loyalty’ with the next Prime Minister, behind the scenes, many fear a new shift to the right.

After two terms, Emmanuel Macron will not be able to run again in 2027 and a crucial issue will be
to prevent the figurehead of the far right, Marine Le Pen, from accessing the presidency.

– ‘Code breaker’ –

For constitutionalist Benjamin Morel, the choice of this personality also symbolizes a ‘very offensive strategy with a view to the European elections’ in June, where the far right is expected to win in France.

Gabriel Attal embodies ‘youth, ambition, it evokes a little in the background the Macron of the departure, a code breaker’, according to political scientist Bruno Cautres, even if his appointment ‘will not solve the problem of the majority’ , nor that of the ‘main cape of the mandate’.

During his time at the Ministry of the Budget, Gabriel Attal’s media ease allowed him to be one of the rare ministers sent to the front line to defend the unpopular pension reform.

At the head of the prestigious National Education portfolio since July 2023, the young minister, omnipresent, saturates the media space and seduces the elderly populations who constitute the heart of the Macronist electorate with hi
s positions in favor of the uniform or the banning of the abaya at school.

Gabriel Attal is the fourth Prime Minister appointed since 2017 under the Macron presidency, regularly accused by his detractors of concentrating powers and micromanaging.

‘Attal regains his position as spokesperson’ for the government, a position he had also occupied during Emmanuel Macron’s first five-year term, quipped Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of the radical left, on of Prime Minister disappears. The presidential monarch governs alone with his court,’ he denounced.

Source: Burkina Information Agency