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Gabriel Attal, nicknamed ‘baby Macron’, becomes youngest ever French prime minister at 34 – as it happened

Attal, who was serving as France’s education minister, is a popular figure.

At 34, he is the youngest prime minister in modern French history.

Attal is also France’s first openly gay prime minister.

Macron’s allies welcomed the move, and foreign leaders congratulated Attal.

Some of the French leadership’s domestic critics said Macron was merely trying to benefit from Attal’s popularity and that the new prime minister would merely function as a spokesperson.

Emmanuel Macron’s decision to replace the former prime minister Élisabeth Borne and reshuffle the government is not regarded as a fundamental political shift. Sylvain Maillard, head of Macron’s Renaissance party in parliament, said Gabriel Attal could be relied on to “faithfully” carry Macron’s project for the country.

The president is trying to move beyond a difficult past year, including unpopular pension changes and a recent row over the introduction of a hardline immigration law that divided his party and was seen by some as an ideological victory for the ideas of Marine Le Pen and the radicalised right.

It is also an attempt to improve the chances of Macron’s centrist party in the June EU ballot where they are polling behind Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) party.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/jan/09/france-new-prime-minister-emmanuel-macron-europe-live-news-updates?page=with:block-659d31858f08f3ebe899fb6b

theguardian.com

Gabriel Attal, nicknamed ‘baby Macron’, becomes youngest ever French prime minister at 34 – as it happened

Former education minister succeeds Élisabeth Borne, who resigned on Monday, as Emmanuel Macron seeks to give fresh impetus to his government