Then French education and youth minister Gabriel Attal, in December 2023. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP)
- Gabriel Attal is the new Prime Minister of France.
- He is record-setting young, and openly gay.
- His rise to prominence came via political communications jobs.
Emmanuel Macron appointed 34-year-old Education Minister Gabriel Attal as his new prime minister on Tuesday.
Here are five things you should know about Attal.
He is young for the job
At 34, Gabriel Attal is France’s youngest post-war prime minister, a record previously held by the leftist Laurent Fabius, who was 37 when he was named prime minister by Francois Mitterrand in 1984.
He was outed as gay
Attal is France’s first openly gay prime minister. He was outed by an old school associate in 2018 when he was named a junior minister during Macron’s first mandate.
At the time, Attal was in a relationship with Stephane Sejourne, Macron’s former political adviser.
He rose to prominence during Covid-19
Attal joined the Socialist Party when he was 17. He became a household name in French politics after being named government spokesman during the pandemic.
He would later be named as a junior minister in the finance ministry and then education minister in 2023, making a name for himself as one of Macron’s savviest cabinet ministers and a smooth communicator.
He banned Muslim dress
Attal’s first move following his appointment as education minister last year was to ban the Muslim abaya dress in state schools, earning himself a popularity boost among many conservative voters despite his hailing from the left.
He was bullied at school
Attal recently went on a famous TV show to tell the story of how he was bullied in middle school by a former classmate, who he said shamed him on a blog created to rate classmates’ physiques during the early days of the Internet revolution.
