Gabriel Attal becomes France’s youngest prime minister

Source- Reuters: Gabriel Attal promised to be bold and act fast to help the middle class weather the rising cost of living, after President Emmanuel Macron, seeking to breathe new life into his second term, on Tuesday made him France’s youngest ever prime minister.

The appointment of Attal, 34, a popular and media-savvy rising star of French politics, signals a desire by Macron to move beyond divisive reforms and improve his centrist party’s chances in European Parliament elections in June.

“Dear @GabrielAttal, I know I can count on your energy and your commitment to implement the project of revitalisation and regeneration that I announced,” Macron wrote on social media after appointing Attal, a close ally and former minister and government spokesman.

Widespread public discontent over surging living costs and last year’s contested pension reform have seriously hit Macron’s ratings, and his chances in the EU ballot, where his party trails badly behind Marine Le Pen’s far-right.

“I’m well aware of the context in which I take on this job,” Attal said.

“Too many French doubt our country, doubt themselves or our future. I think in particular of the middle class … who get up every morning to go to work … and sometimes can’t make ends meet,” he said, promising to work to “control our destiny and free up France’s potential”.

Shorn of a working majority in parliament, Macron has battled to push through his second-term reform agenda, and is now set to focus on more consensual objectives such as aiming to reach full employment.

MORE DYNAMIC, OR MORE OF THE SAME?

Attal replaces Elisabeth Borne, 62, only the second woman to hold the prime minister role in France. A dutiful and hard-working technocrat, her year and a half in office was marked by months of protests over the pension overhaul and riots over the police shooting of a teenager of north African descent.

Macron and Attal may take several days to name a new government. An Elysee aide said the usual Wednesday cabinet meeting was unlikely this week.

PHOTO: BBC NEWS