What is the most striking thing about Gabriel Attal? His age, perhaps: the 34-year-old is the youngest head of government in French history. Mr. Attal is also the first openly gay official to hold the position. His rise is often compared to meteors and ascendant stars: all in 13 years’ time, Mr. Attal went from being an obscure intern to holding the second-highest office in France. He is now seen as a successor to President Emmanuel Macron.
It is “audacious”, Mr. Attal said of Mr. Macron in a speech this week, for the youngest President to appoint the youngest Prime Minister in the Republic’s history. It also happens to be timely. Turbulence strikes Mr. Macron’s second term. Inflation grows; young voters are disillusioned; his centrist government lacks a majority in Parliament; contentious reforms, including the anti-immigration Bill, have unleashed long and bitter protests; the hard-right Opposition polls ahead of Mr. Macron’s party in the upcoming EU elections.
Mr. Attal was born to Yves Attal, a Tunisian of Jewish descent, and Marie de Couriss, with French and Greek-Russian roots. Both worked in the film industry. He was raised in his mother’s religion of Orthodox Christianity, but his father warned him he will “feel Jewish” all his life and “suffer anti-Semitism” because of the name. He goes by the name Gabriel Attal de Couriss.
Mr. Attal attended the elite private school École alsacienne in Paris, succeeded by a master’s degree in public affairs from the Sciences Po University.
In an interview, Mr. Attal mentioned he does not intend to hide his sexuality but has refrained from publicly discussing it. (He was in a civil partnership with the 38-year-old Stéphane Séjourné, a political adviser to Mr. Macron until 2021).
Once upon a time, Mr. Attal wanted to be an actor, NPR reported (he played an extra in a 2008 film). At 17, he joined the central wing of the Socialist Party. In 2012, he secured an internship with the then Health Minister Marisol Touraine, the mother of a classmate. The role culminated in a full-time job in the Ministry. Mr. Attal pivoted to join Mr. Macron’s presidential campaign in 2017, who was seen as a dynamic centrist leader with Eurocentric ideas.
He has held versatile portfolios: first a government spokesperson and then the Budget Minister and the Minister of Education and Youth. As the Education Minister, he implemented the Muslim abaya dress ban in schools. In 2018, when France’s national railway company workers went on a strike, he said the country “had to get out of the strike culture”. Similar to Mr. Macron, political commentators note Mr. Attal’s centre-liberal positioning has shifted to centre-right as the far-right gains ground, with the National Rally’s Marine Le Pen leading the charge.
A mini-Macron
Mr. Attal is young, ambitious and popular — words once associated with Mr. Macron himself. Both campaigned on a centrist message locating themselves outside of the “left-right” binary; both rose rapidly through the political ranks. “Emmanuel Macron created Gabriel Attal,” said journalist Pascal Praud on CNews.
If Mr. Attal resembled the Macron of 2017, in 2024 he appears to play the foil to the ‘highbrow’ President of 2024. On the first day of office, he visited flood survivors in northern France, promised “no one will forget” them, and vowed to return to have coffee with a cafe owner.
If Mr. Macron is “aloof”, his protege is seen as accessible. The Associated Press noted Mr. Attal “started using social media widely in a way no government official had done before”. When France in 2021 allowed single women and lesbians to access medically assisted reproduction, Mr. Attal, on Instagram, revealed he was born via the practice too.
Moreover, Mr. Attal has a sense of communication, journalist Ludovic Vigogne told The Guardian. The media has dubbed him Sniper des Mots. The Word Sniper. To the youths who marched against Mr. Macron’s anti-immigration and pension reforms, Mr. Attal said his appointment was a “symbol of confidence in young people”.
Critics are less generous. The young PM from his early days was dubbed to be a true advocate of “Macronism”, one who adapts only to defend “his god”, noted an article in Le Monde.
Both Mr. Attal and Mr. Macron are seen as privileged politicians, with little understanding or experience to lead France through crises. Hard-left politician Jean-Luc Mélenchon argued the young Mr. Attal would remain a “spokesperson”, under a President infamous for centralising power and micromanaging.
“His real convictions are difficult to identity at the political end,” wrote Alice Mérieux for Challenges.fr. “Probably because...he understood that the room for manoeuvre is limited”. Ms. Mérieux echoes the question of ideology: What does Mr. Attal stand for?
Mr. Attal assumes the leadership of a troubled government. Mr. Macron’s approval rating dived for the third time in December, the lowest in 2023. Mr. Attal, who as of last month was France’s most popular leader, is expected to be a “palate cleanser”, as consultant Julien Hoez put it.
The fresh face is expected to resurrect ratings, infuse new energy among young voters, temper down a divided coalition government where he is regarded as “hard-working” and “likeable”. For Mr. Macron, the young Prime Minister is the right man at the right time. In the June EU elections, he is poised to lead Mr. Macron’s campaign and take on the young Mr. Jordan Bardella of the far-right Opposition.
A “puppet”, a weapon, an ace or a wunderkind, perhaps the most striking thing about Mr. Attal is his versatility. For now, the young Prime Minister plays the star of the young President’s balancing act.
Published - January 14, 2024 01:51 am IST
