A politician with Soviet Jewish roots became the Prime Minister of France
French President Emmanuel Macron appointed 34-year-old Gabriel Attal as Prime Minister of the country, becoming the youngest head of government in the Fifth Republic.
Attal was born in 1989 in the Parisian suburb of Clamart. His father, Yves Attal, is a lawyer and film producer, from a Jewish family that moved to France from Tunisia. Mother comes from a family of emigrants who moved to France from Odessa. Attal was educated at the Paris Institute of Political Sciences.
Attal began his political career in the ranks of the Socialist Party. Since the creation of the Republic on the March movement, Macron has become a member of it. From the presidential movement, the young politician was elected to parliament. In 2020, at the suggestion of Macron, he was appointed Secretary of State and official representative of the government.
In May 2022, Attal was appointed Minister Delegate in charge of public accounts at the Ministry of Economy. In July 2023, he received the portfolio of Minister of Education, becoming one of the most popular government ministers. The current appointment could be seen as “bringing into orbit a potential successor,” Le Figaro suggests, as the constitution prohibits Emmanuel Macron from running for a third consecutive term in 2027.
Former head of government Elisabeth Borne, whose resignation was approved by Macron the day before, officially handed over her post to Gabriel Attal. In the near future, Born will receive a deputy mandate in the National Assembly, the French press reports.