Before this, Gabriel Attal was serving as the education minister of the country.

Gabriel Attal New France PM: Gabriel Attal is France’s youngest and first openly gay prime minister who assumed office after Elisabeth Borne resigned from the post. Emmanuel Macron, the president of France on Tuesday named the 34-year-old as the new head of government, reports news agency AFP.

Before this, Gabriel Attal was serving as the education minister of the country.

Elisabeth Borne served less than two years in office and resigned ahead of a widely expected cabinet reshuffle.

“The president of the republic appointed Mr Gabriel Attal prime minister, and tasked him with forming a government,” a presidential statement said, reported AFP.

6 Things You Should Know About Gabriel Attal

1. At 34, Gabriel Attal is France’s youngest post-war prime minister, a record previously held by the leftist Laurent Fabius, who was 37 when he was named prime minister by Francois Mitterrand in 1984.

2. Attal is France’s first openly gay prime minister. He was outed by an old school associate in 2018 when he was named a junior minister during Macron’s first mandate. At the time, Attal was in a relationship with Stephane Sejourne, Macron’s former political adviser.

3. Attal joined the Socialist Party when he was 17. He became a household name in French politics after being named government spokesman during the pandemic.

4. He would later be named as a junior minister in the finance ministry and then education minister in 2023, making a name for himself as one of Macron’s savviest cabinet ministers and a smooth communicator.

5. Attal’s first move following his appointment as education minister last year was to ban the Muslim abaya dress in state schools, earning himself a popularity boost among many conservative voters despite his hailing from the left.

6. Attal recently went on a famous TV show to tell the story of how he was bullied in middle school by a former classmate, who he said shamed him on a blog created to rate classmates’ physiques during the early days of the Internet revolution.

Sylvain Maillard, the leader of Macron’s Renaissance party congratulated Gabriel Attal on X: “I am sure that you will be able to faithfully carry out our project and embody the values that are ours.”

Toutes mes félicitations @GabrielAttal.

Je suis sûr que tu sauras porter fidèlement notre projet et incarner les valeurs qui sont les nôtres.

Les @deputesRE seront des alliés loyaux et exigeants pour répondre aux défis de notre pays et continuer à réformer, pour les Français. pic.twitter.com/AQZ5ZYAu8p

— Sylvain Maillard (@SylvainMaillard) January 9, 2024

(With AFP, Reuters inputs)