Gabriel Attal: France's youngest Prime Minister, openly gay

Attal is the youngest prime minister since the founding of France's Fifth Republic in 1958, the first openly gay person to become the country's second most powerful politician, and the youngest head of state. In the world.

France's youngest prime minister in decades

On January 9, French President Emmanuel Macron appointed Mr. Gabriel Attal - French Minister of Education, as Prime Minister.

The new French Prime Minister is 34 years old this year, the youngest Prime Minister of France since 1958, and will also be the first openly gay person to hold the position of the country's second most powerful politician.

Mr. Attal is a close ally of President Emmanuel Macron, who has become the government's spokesman during the COVID-19 pandemic.

One of the country's most popular politicians in recent opinion polls, Mr. Attal has made a name for himself as a savvy minister comfortable on the air. bar and in parliament.

The new Prime Minister is a rising star in Mr. Macron's Renaissance Party, serving as Minister of National Education and Youth since July 2023. Before leading the Ministry of Education, Mr. Attal served as Minister of Public Works and Public Accounts.

Coming from a religious background

Mr. Attal is the son of Yves Attal, a lawyer and film producer of Tunisian-Jewish descent who died in 2015, and Marie de Couriss, who descended from Orthodox Christians from Odesa.

The new French Prime Minister grew up in Paris with three younger sisters and uses the full name Gabriel Attal de Couriss.

He was educated at École Alsacienne, the private school of choice for politically and artistically prestigious parents in Paris, where English lessons are mandatory from elementary school. After graduating, he studied at the prestigious Sciences Po University and earned a master's degree in public affairs.

Mr. Attal's political ambitions arose when he attended a protest against Jean-Marie Le Pen when the far-right leader was elected in the second round of his presidential run against Jacques Chirac in 2002. He joined Socialist Party in 2006 and supported its candidate, Ségolène Royal, in the 2007 election.

In 2012, after a stint working in the office of Health Minister Marisol Touraine, the mother of one of his classmates, he took a full-time job at the ministry at the age of 23.

"Lightning" promotion roadmap

To become the youngest Prime Minister of France in decades, Mr. Gabriel Attal went through a "speedy" promotion path.

During the early years of Mr. Emmanuel Macron's presidency, Mr. Attal was one of a group of highly educated young men from well-off backgrounds chosen to advise and support the young French leader.

Mr. Attal became a prominent figure thanks to his willingness to speak out in public about any issue that occurred in an interesting and calm voice. His outstanding communication skills and ability to think and speak when answering public questions before parliament earned him the nickname "The Word Sniper".

After starting at the Health Ministry in 2012, in 2016 he left the Socialist Party to join Mr. Macron's fledgling centrist political party En March, which later became La République En Marche (LREM). Starting from this point, his career "skyrocketed".

At the age of 29, he was appointed Minister of Education, becoming the youngest member of the government under the French Fifth Republic.

He has held several high-ranking political positions including head of LREM, government spokesperson, public finance minister as well as education minister. He was elected to the French House of Representatives (also known as the French National Assembly) last June.

Attal is in a civil union (a registered form of cohabitation for same-sex couples) with Stéphane Séjourné, 38, secretary general of the ruling party and once one of Mr. Macron's political advisers. until 2021.

Cặp cha và con gái chuyển giới đầu tiên trên thế giới: Được bạn đời ủng hộ Thảo Mai16:45:58 30/08/2024Trong xã hội còn đầy sự kỳ thị với người LGBT, việc dám công khai xu hướng tính dục và sống một cuộc đời tự do, thoải mái xem chừng không phải là điều dễ dàng với nhiều người.