Gabriel Attal: five things to know about France's young, openly gay prime minister
ReutersJanuary 9, 20245:41 PM UTCUpdated agoPARIS, Jan 8 (Reuters) - 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:
* 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.
* 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.
French Education and Youth Minister Gabriel Attal leaves following the weekly cabinet meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, November 22, 2023. REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
At the time, Attal was in a relationship with Stephane Sejourne, Macron's former political adviser.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
