Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images/File
Gabriel Attal is seen in this archive photo after a cabinet meeting at the President's Elysee Palace in Paris, December 12, 2023.
ParisCNN –
Gabriel Attal, the 34-year-old French education minister, has been named the country's new prime minister, a historic appointment by President Emmanuel Macron as he seeks to boost his government's waning popularity.
Attal will be France's youngest prime minister ever and the first openly gay man to hold the post – making him one of the most prominent and powerful LGBTQ politicians in the world.
Attal, a rising star in Macron's Renaissance Party, has been minister of education and national youth since July. During his term, he issued a controversial ban on the wearing of the abaya in French public schools and worked to raise awareness of bullying in schools.
“I know I can count on your energy and commitment,” Macron said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, after the announcement.
Before heading the Ministry of Education, Attal was government spokesman and then Minister of Public Works and Public Finance. As prime minister, he is tasked with forming a new government and ensuring the passage of legislation that advances the president's agenda.
He replaces Elisabeth Borne, who resigned from office on Monday after a tumultuous 20-month term marked by unpopular pension reforms and last summer's urban unrest following the police shooting of a teenager of Algerian descent.
Borne became the first female prime minister in three decades when Macron appointed her to the post in May 2022, shortly after his re-election. In the general election the following month, her party failed to win an absolute majority, ultimately affecting her government's ability to pass new laws.
On more than 20 occasions, Borne invoked a constitutional clause that allowed the government to pass bills in the House of Commons without a vote, including raising the retirement age. Borne's repeated use of the tool led to accusations of anti-democratic behavior and earned her the nickname “Madame 49.3,” a reference to the clause itself.
Most recently, Borne's Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin was the initiator of a controversial immigration reform bill that, among other things, gave local prefects more powers to deal with undocumented workers while restricting the social benefits they can receive.
The law's supporters said the proposed reforms were popular with the French public, pointing to recent polls, while its critics argued it contained too many concessions to the far-right, such as restricting how one can obtain citizenship by birth. Longtime far-right figurehead Marine Le Pen called the bill an “ideological victory” for her political party.
Borne's departure was not surprising as it preceded a long-awaited cabinet reshuffle. Macron and his government are trailing in opinion polls, while Le Pen and the far-right enjoy unprecedented support.
The French president is likely to seek a political reset ahead of this summer's European elections and the Paris Olympics. Polls show that Attal is one of the most popular members of Macron's government.
“The road to turnover begins on June 9,” Le Pen said on X, referring to the upcoming EU vote.
CNN's Chris Liakos and Maya Szaniecki contributed to this report.