Who is Gabrel Gabriel Attal, France’s young, openly gay prime minister

He is known to be a rising star of French politics as he takes on the role after a bruising year for Macron who saw opposition in the country over pensions and immigration schemes.

Five things to know about Gabriel Attal

-Gabriel Attal will be youngest prime minister of France since the founding of the French Fifth Republic in 1958, CNN reported. Moreover, he will be the first openly gay man to serve as the country’s second-most powerful politician.

-He is replacing Elisabeth Borne, who resigned from her post on Monday. Elisabeth Borne’s resignation has come after a tumultuous 20-month tenure marred by an unpopular decision to raise the retirement age and urban riots over the summer after police shot and killed a teenage boy of Algerian descent, as per CNN.

-In his political carreer, Gabriel has served as France’s Minister of Education and National Youth since July, 2023. He never shied away from taking unpopular decisions. The ban on wearing of the Muslim Abaya in French public schools was one of his controversial decisions during his tenure. The move helped him earn popularity among conservative voters despite his hailing from the left.

-He joined the Socialist Party at the age of 17 and became a household name in French politics after being named government spokesman during the pandemic. 

-Recently, one of his TV interviews went popular in which he was sharing his experience of being bullied by his peers at middle school. He shared how he was shamed by other fellows on a blog created to rate classmates’ physiques during the early days of the Internet revolution.

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Published: 09 Jan 2024, 06:28 PM IST