Is The New France PM, Attal, The Youngest In The World?

Education Minister Gabriel Attal, a close ally of French President Emmanual Macron who gained prominence as government spokesman during the Covid pandemic, was widely cited by political sources and French media as a strong favourite to replace Borne.

His appointment was confirmed shortly after midday (local time). Attal, at 34, has become France's youngest prime minister and the first to be openly gay, reported UK-based Standard. Not only he would be the youngest PM of France but he would also stand as the youngest PM in the world after Sanna Marin of Finland stepped Down last year.

Once a member of France's socialist party before joining Macron, Attal was a junior finance minister and became education minister in 2023, making a name for himself as one of Macron's most savvy ministers, at ease on radio shows and in parliament, reported UK media outlet.

"If it is indeed Gabriel Attal, it was the best card the president could play," Ifop pollster Jerome Fourquet told BFM TV before the appointment, pointing to his popularity, which he said Attal gained thanks to taking quick action as education minister and through his communication skills. Opposition leaders were quick to say they did not expect much from the change in the prime minister.

Here are five things to know about Gabriel Attal:

• Gabriel Attal has been appointed as the youngest prime minister of France since the founding of the French Fifth Republic in 1958, as reported by CNN. Additionally, he will be the first openly gay man to serve as the country's second-most powerful politician.
• Elisabeth Borne, who resigned from her post on January 8 has been replaced by Gabriel Attal. Elisabeth Borne's resignation comes after a tumultuous 20-month tenure marked by an unpopular decision to raise the retirement age and urban riots over the summer following the police shooting and killing of a teenage boy of Algerian descent, according to CNN.
• In his political career, Gabriel has been serving as France's Minister of Education and National Youth since July 2023. Unafraid to make unpopular decisions, one of his controversial moves during his tenure was the ban on wearing the Muslim Abaya in French public schools. Despite hailing from the left, this decision helped him gain popularity among conservative voters.
• Joining the Socialist Party at the age of 17, Gabriel became a household name in French politics after being named government spokesman during the pandemic.
• Recently, one of his TV interviews gained popularity, where his experience of being bullied by peers at middle school was shared. He recounted how he was shamed by fellow students on a blog created to rate classmates' physiques during the early days of the Internet revolution.

Notably, before Attal, the youngest Prime Minister in the world was of Finland was Social Democrat Sanna Marin, 34, who was sworn in as the head of a coalition whose four other parties are all led by women, three of them in their thirties in 2019.

At that time, Marin was the transport minister. She had taken over from Antti Rinne, a former trade unionist who resigned after just six months in office when he lost the confidence of the Centre party, a coalition partner, over his handling of a postal strike. However, Finland's former Prime Minister Sanna Marin stepped down on September 1 2023 as chair of the centre-left Social Democrats, hoping to take the focus off her personal life after an often turbulent four years at the helm.