France’s new prime minister Gabriel Attal has had a stratospheric rise, but the work starts now
Gabriel Attal’s arrival as France’s next prime minister is the culmination of a stratospheric rise to success.
At 34, he is the youngest person to hold the office since France began its Fifth Republic, back in 1959, but his arrival is actually no great surprise.
Since his election to parliament in 2017, Attal has stood out as a brilliant orator, quick thinker and loyal follower of President Macron.
He became the youngest minister when he was 29, in a junior role, then official government spokesperson the following year, followed by roles as budget and then education minister.
His trajectory has been constantly up and, notably, he’s popular not just with young voters but with the country at large.
More popular than his boss, for sure.
Attal’s challenge will be to use that popularity to conquer the problems that beset his predecessor, Elisabeth Borne.
And that won’t be easy – the Rassemblement National party of Marine Le Pen is resurgent, and may well win the European elections in June while the National Assembly, in which Macron’s En Marche party has no majority, is no more likely to help him than it was to support Borne before him.
Put simply – Macron’s political opponents really don’t like the president, and, for all Attal’s popularity, that won’t change.
Attal does bring cultural revolution – not just the youngest prime minister of the modern age, but also the first who is openly gay.
His rise so far has been dizzying.
But if he is to reinvigorate Macron’s stumbling second term, he will need to deliver some political alchemy.
The real work starts now.