The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, in a bid to bring about a reset in his government, on Tuesday, appointed 34-year-old Education Minister Gabriel Attal as new prime minister, making him the youngest Prime Minister in France’s history.
Although the action won’t necessarily result in a significant political change, it does indicate Macron’s intention to attempt to move past the unpopular immigration and pension measures from the previous year and increase the prospects of his centrist party in the June EU election.
According to opinion surveys, Macron’s team is behind Marine Le Pen’s far-right party by eight to 10 percentage points.
Attal—a close ally of Macron’s who rose to fame as the official spokesperson during the COVID outbreak —will succeed departing Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne.
Recent opinion surveys have ranked Attal as one of the nation’s most popular politicians. He has established a reputation as an astute minister who feels comfortable both in parliament and on radio programmes.
Macron, who had said last year that he will reveal new political initiatives, said to Attal, “Dear @GabrielAttal, I know I can count on your energy and your commitment to implement the project of revitalisation and regeneration that I announced.”
Macron lost his absolute majority shortly after being re-elected in 2022, and since then, he has found it difficult to manage a more unstable parliament.
However, the opposition had several things to say about this appointment, as the 28-year-old leader of Le Pen’s National Rally party, Jordan Bardella said, “By appointing Gabriel Attal … Emmanuel Macron wants to cling to his popularity in opinion polls to alleviate the pain of an interminable end to his reign, instead, he risks taking the short-lived Education Minister with him in his fall.”
Other opposition figures quickly expressed their lack of expectations from the prime ministerial shift, given that Macron made most of the decisions.
Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi
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