Gabriel Attal | |
|---|---|
 Attal in February 2023 | |
| Prime Minister of France | |
| Assumed office 9 January 2024 | |
| President | Emmanuel Macron |
| Preceded by | Élisabeth Borne |
| Minister of National Education and Youth | |
| In office 20 July 2023 – 9 January 2024 | |
| Prime Minister | Élisabeth Borne |
| Preceded by | Pap Ndiaye |
| Succeeded by | Amélie Oudéa-Castéra |
| Minister of Public Action and Accounts | |
| In office 20 May 2022 – 20 July 2023 | |
| Prime Minister | Élisabeth Borne |
| Preceded by | Olivier Dussopt |
| Succeeded by | Thomas Cazenave |
| Spokesperson of the Government | |
| In office 6 July 2020 – 20 May 2022 | |
| Prime Minister | Jean Castex |
| Preceded by | Sibeth Ndiaye |
| Succeeded by | Olivia Grégoire |
| Secretary of State to the Minister of National Education and Youth | |
| In office 16 October 2018 – 6 July 2020 | |
| Prime Minister | Édouard Philippe |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Sarah El Haïry |
| Spokesperson of La République En Marche! | |
| In office 4 January 2018 – 16 October 2018 | |
| Preceded by | Benjamin Griveaux |
| Succeeded by | Laetitia Avia |
| Member of the National Assembly for Hauts-de-Seine's 10th constituency | |
| In office 21 June 2017 – 16 November 2018 | |
| Preceded by | André Santini |
| Succeeded by | Florence Provendier |
| Member of the Vanves City Council | |
| Assumed office 30 March 2014 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Gabriel Nissim Attal 16 March 1989 Clamart, France |
| Political party | Renaissance (since 2016) |
| Other political affiliations | Socialist Party (2006–2016) |
| Domestic partner | Stéphane Séjourné (2015–2022) |
| Education | École alsacienne |
| Alma mater | Sciences Po University of Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas |
| Signature |  |
Gabriel Nissim Attal de Couriss (French pronunciation: [ɡabʁijɛl atal]; born 16 March 1989) is a French politician serving as the Prime Minister of France since January 2024.
A member of the Renaissance party, Attal rapidly rose up the political ranks following his election to the National Assembly in June 2017; he became the Junior Minister to the Minister of National Education and Youth in 2018, which made him the youngest person to serve in the Government of France, the Spokesperson of the Government in 2020, the Minister of Public Action and Accounts in 2022, and the Minister of National Education and Youth in 2023.
On 9 January 2024, amid a major government crisis, Attal was appointed by the French President, Emmanuel Macron, to replace Élisabeth Borne as Prime Minister of France. At the age of 34, he became the youngest person and the first openly gay person to serve as a G7 head of government as well as the ninth openly LGBT person and the youngest person currently serving as a head of state or government in the world.
Attal has become one of the most popular politicians in France and the French media have speculated that he is a potential contender in 2027 French presidential election as a successor to Macron.
Attal was born on 16 March 1989 in Clamart, Île-de-France. He grew up in the 13th and 14th arrondissements of Paris with three sisters. His father, Yves Attal, was a lawyer and film producer; his mother, Marie de Couriss,[a] worked as an employee of a film production company.[2][3] His father was Jewish and his mother an Orthodox Christian; Attal was raised in his mother's Orthodox Christian faith,[2] but would not maintain the faith in later years.[4]
Attal attended the École alsacienne, an exclusive private school in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. He obtained a Baccalauréat with a "Mention Très Bien" in 2007.[5] He went on to study law at Panthéon-Assas University from 2008 to 2011, and earned a Master of Public Affairs from Sciences Po in 2012. He also spent a year (2009–2010) working with Éric de Chassey, director of the French Academy in Rome.[6]
His political activity first began when he participated in the 2006 youth protests in France.[7] Taking up a place at Sciences Po in 2007, he created a committee for the support of Íngrid Betancourt, the Franco-Colombian hostage held by the FARC.[8]
After an internship at the French National Assembly with Marisol Touraine during the 2012 presidential campaign, Attal worked for five years as an advisor to the Minister of Health, a role which involved parliamentary liaison and speechwriting.[9]
In the 2014 municipal elections, Attal was placed fifth on the Socialist Party list. He was elected as one of the four Socialist Party councilors of Vanves and took over the lead of the opposition, after the resignation of the head of the socialist list.[10]
Attal was elected to the French National Assembly on 18 June 2017, representing the Hauts-de-Seine's 10th constituency, winning out over the designated successor of André Santini.[9][11]
Attal was quickly considered one of the most talented new members of parliament, with Amélie de Montchalin.[12] As a deputy of the National Assembly, he became a member of the Committee on Cultural and Education Affairs, where he served as whip of the group La République En Marche!.[13]
In December 2017, Attal was appointed rapporteur on a bill on access to higher education.[14]
Attal was named chairperson of La République En Marche! in January 2018[15] and in September 2018, after the election of Richard Ferrand to the presidency of the National Assembly, he ran as a candidate to succeed him as president of the group La République En Marche!, but withdrew his candidacy the day before the election when he was considered one of the three favourites.[16] He later endorsed Roland Lescure.[17]
On 16 October 2018, Attal was appointed Secrétaire d'État (junior minister) to the Minister of National Education and Youth Jean-Michel Blanquer. At 29, he was the youngest member of a government under the Fifth Republic, beating the previous record set by François Baroin in 1995 by a few months. He was responsible for youth issues and setting up universal national service.[12] Attal was the government spokesperson under Prime Minister Jean Castex from 2020 to 2022.[18] He became Minister of Public Action and Accounts in the government of Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne in May 2022.[19]
In July 2023, Attal was appointed minister of national education and youth in the 2023 French government reshuffle.[20] At the age of 34, he became the youngest person to hold that office under the Fifth Republic.[21] In this position, he announced the ban on abayas under the "principle of secularism," extending a ban on religious symbols in French public schools that already included Christian crosses, Jewish Kippahs and Islamic veils.[22][23]
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See also: Attal government |
Following Borne's resignation as prime minister on 8 January 2024, media sources announced Attal as favourite to succeed her.[24] His appointment as Prime Minister was announced on 9 January 2024. At the age of 34, he became the youngest and the first openly gay person to hold the office in France.[25] He also became the youngest person at present to serve as a head of state or government in the world.
Lacking a parliamentary majority as a result of the 2022 legislative election, Attal formed a minority government, the second one since the start of the Macron Presidency. He appointed what was widely described as the most right-leaning cabinet since Macron took office, with over half of his senior ministers previously coming from the conservative UMP/LR party.[26]
Attal is one of the most popular politicians in France.[27] The French media have speculated that he is a potential contender in the 2027 presidential election.[28][b]
On 16 January 2024, Attal announced that, like Élisabeth Borne before him, he would not be seeking a vote of confidence in the National Assembly as implicitly allowed in the French Constitution.[29]
In 2018, Attal was outed on Twitter by his former École alsacienne classmate Juan Branco.[30][31] Attal lived in a civil union with Stéphane Séjourné at the time.[32] Their relationship had ended by 2024.[2]
When they were both attending the École alsacienne, Attal had a relationship with singer Joyce Jonathan,[33] but Jonathan said that the relationship was merely "a joke between us" and "a playtime crush".[34]
Attal said in a TV interview that he had been subjected to homophobic bullying at school.[2] He has also described being the target of homophobic and antisemitic hate speech on social media as a politician.[35] Attal has also been criticized by LGBT rights organizations for not being outspoken enough about his sexuality and the promotion of LGBT rights.[36][37]
Though baptized as a member of the Russian Orthodox Christian Church, Attal considers himself an atheist.[4]
Attal's father was of Tunisian Jewish and Alsatian Jewish descent. His mother is of French and Russian ancestry, her Russian grandfather having arrived in France as a refugee. Genealogists have found both French and Russian nobility, including members of the Galitzine, amongst her ancestors.[38]
