Gabriel Attal becomes France’s first ‘openly gay’ and youngest Prime Minister

Gabriel Attal has served as France's Minister of Education and National Youth since July, 2023

Paris: French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday appointed 34-year-old Gabriel Attal to become the country’s next prime minister. Attal will be the country’s youngest prime minister since the founding of the French Fifth Republic in 1958, CNN reported.

Attal will also be the first openly gay man to serve as the country’s second-most powerful politician.

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Gabriel has served as France‘s Minister of Education and National Youth since July, 2023. During his tenure, he enacted a controversial ban on the wearing of the Abaya in French public schools and has worked on raising awareness of bullying in schools.

Following the announcement, Macron said in a post on X, “I know I can count on your energy and your commitment.” Before leading the Education Ministry, Attal served as the government spokesman and then as minister of public works and public accounts.

He replaces Elisabeth Borne, who resigned from her post on Monday after a tumultuous 20-month tenure marked by an unpopular decision to raise the retirement age and urban riots over the summer after police shot and killed a teenage boy of Algerian descent, as per CNN.

Her departure was unsurprising, as it came ahead of a long-anticipated cabinet reshuffle.