French President Emmanuel Macron appointed Gabriel Attal, his 34-year-old education minister, as prime minister on Tuesday. Analysts view the move as a bid by Macron to reinvigorate his presidency ahead of European Parliament elections in the spring and to shore up his legacy as he finishes his last years in office.
The French president confirmed Attal’s promotion in a statement on Tuesday. Addressing Attal, Macron wrote on X, formerly Twitter, “I know I can count on your energy and your commitment to implement the rearmament and regeneration project that I have announced.”
Attal’s appointment comes a day after his predecessor, Élisabeth Borne, resigned following a tumultuous 20 months in office, during which she went head-to-head with lawmakers and was forced to override Parliament on multiple occasions to ram through Macron’s legislative proposals on major topics such as labor reform and immigration.