Macron picks Gabriel Attal, who banned abaya in schools, as new Prime Minister
French president Emmanuel Macron yesterday chose one of his closest allies, Gabriel Attal, 34, to become the country’s new Prime Minister.
Nicknamed “mini-Macron” by French media, Mr Attal is France’s youngest prime minister and succeeds Elisabeth Borne who resigned on Monday, after unpopular pension and immigration reforms.
In his previous job as education secretary, Mr Attal took a hard line on secularism in state schools – banning the abayas worn by some Muslim girls.
His standing rose in polls, with 39 per cent of respondents in a survey published this month naming Mr Attal as their favourite politician.
The far-right National Rally party said Mr Attal, whose father is of Jewish-Tunisian origin, had tackled public concerns, but had “stolen” their ideas. “It’s great that he addresses strong public demands. For once, someone is tackling difficult topics – and those are our topics,” National Rally vice president Louis Aliot told RTL radio network.
A December poll shows that 31 per cent of French voters would choose the far-right. This was well ahead of centrist groups close to Mr Macron, who were favoured by 21 per cent of those polled.
Some analysts say Mr Attal’s popularity with the electorate made him Mr Macron’s best option as prime minister, before the European Parliament elections in June and the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics in July and August.
But they also warned that Mr Attal’s sudden rise risks coming to a sudden end should anything go wrong in the coming months – such as security or logistics issues during the Olympics or a bad performance by Mr Macron’s political group in the European Parliament elections. “Macron is taking the risk of playing his best card ahead of two important milestones that may impact Attal negatively,” political scientist Christophe Boutin told The National.
“He could have also appointed him in September.”
Mr Attal joined Mr Macron’s newly created En Marche political party – now called Renaissance – in 2016, later becoming its spokesman. Yesterday, Mr Macron wrote on X: “Dear Gabriel Attal, I know I can count on your energy and your commitment.”
The President said he expected Mr Attal to “surpass himself” and show “audacity”.
Three reasons help explain Mr Attal’s popularity, according to Mr Boutin.
“He speaks well; he acquired a strong visibility as a spokesperson; and he implemented popular reforms as education minister,” he said.
Mr Boutin said that Mr Attal’s ideas – including the abaya ban – are far removed from the far-right, proving popular across much of the political spectrum.
More than 80 per cent of the public approved the ban, a poll at the time found.
The ban chimed with a deep-seated belief in the separation of religion and state and re-establishing a dialogue with teachers, said Mr Boutin.