French President Emmanuel Macron has appointed the 34-year-old former Education Minister Gabriel Attal as the new Prime Minister. The Elysée Palace announced this on Tuesday. Previously, Élisabeth Borne’s centrist government resigned on Monday evening. Macron wants to reorganize the government after the recent difficulties in passing the immigration law. The European elections are coming up in the spring, and France is hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games in the summer.
Attal is a political whiz kid who was known to the French as a government spokesman. Most recently he headed the Ministry of Education. Now, at 34, he will become the youngest prime minister in recent French history. Attal is considered quite popular and has the reputation of being able to discuss the matter with representatives of other political camps. In terms of type, Macron could also suit Attal better than Borne: Attal’s dynamic nature and his steep career remind observers of the president.
In France, the prime minister has a role that is subordinate to the president. France’s head of state has important powers similar to the US president; some speak of a “presidential monarchy”. The president sets the main lines in domestic and foreign policy, which the prime minister and the government generally follow.
For Macron, the appointment of Attal and the associated reshuffle of the cabinet are about a flight forward. Since the 2022 parliamentary elections, his camp no longer has an absolute majority in the National Assembly and is dependent on votes from the opposition. Macron ultimately pushed through the highly controversial pension reform last year without a final vote in the chamber. When it came to the new immigration law, the government made such massive concessions to the conservative Républicains in December that MPs from their own ranks voted against it and the camp threatened to collapse.
Right now, however, a minimum level of stability is important for Macron, because he will face major challenges in the coming months. Marine Le Pen’s right-wing nationalists are threatening to significantly overtake his troops in the European elections. In addition, the major event of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris wants to be organized in the summer, where France wants to present its best side. It is expected that Attal’s government team will be presented in the coming days.
