Attal Government

The Attal government ( French: ''gouvernement Attal'') was the forty-fourth government of the French Fifth Republic, formed on 9 January 2024 and headed by Gabriel Attal as Prime Minister under the presidency of Emmanuel Macron. It served as a caretaker government from July to September 2024, before Michel Barnier was appointed prime minister.

The Attal cabinet was a three-party minority government as a result of the 2022 legislative election that left the governing coalition short of an absolute majority in Parliament. His government managed to survive votes of no confidence thanks to the repeated abstentions of MPs from The Republicans. Following the second round of the 2024 legislative election, Attal remained Prime minister until the appointment of Michel Barnier on 5 September.

History

Formation

Context

In late December 2023, the passage of an immigration and asylum bill originating from a deal struck between Borne's minority government and the conservative LR party left Macron's governing coalition in political crisis, especially after some left-leaning ministers threatened to resign if the bill was passed, something which was seen as a major breach of collective responsibility, while scores of Macronist deputies defied the government by either abstaining or voting against the legislation. Hours after the bill was passed, Health Minister Aurélien Rousseau resigned in protest; Higher Education Minister Sylvie Retailleau offered her resignation as well although President Macron refused it. Others, such as Transport Minister Clément Beaune, voiced their opposition to the bill but did not quit.

As 2024 approached, news media began to speculate about a potential change of prime minister in a last-ditch effort by Macron both to revive his second presidential term and reassert his diminished political authority.

Élisabeth Borne's resignation

When Élisabeth Borne resigned as prime minister on 8 January 2024, she made clear in her resignation letter that she was not doing so of her own initiative but rather to comply with Macron's will to replace her with a new officeholder. In her letter, she also quoted a line from her distant predecessor Michel Rocard's own resignation letter, a reference to the fact that, like him, she was compelled to resign by the President while she would have wanted to carry on as head of government.

Legal scholar Ariane Vidal-Naquet, in an op-ed in , said that Borne's "forced resignation" was "not consistent with the Constitution" even though it is widely accepted under a presidential interpretation of the Constitution.

After Borne resigned on 8 January, she remained prime minister in a caretaking capacity until handing over to Attal a day later.

Attal's appointment as Prime Minister

In the run-up to Gabriel Attal's appointment as prime minister, news media cited several politicians as main contenders for the premiership: Defence Minister Sébastien Lecornu, former National Assembly President Richard Ferrand, former Agriculture Minister Julien Denormandie and Environment Minister Christophe Béchu were among the names cited for Macron's pick.

Hours before the appointment, when Attal emerged as the most likely pick for the premiership, several prominent figures inside Macron's camp, such as junior coalition partners François Bayrou (MoDem party leader) and Édouard Philippe ( Horizons party leader and Macron's prime minister from 2017 to 2020) or incumbent government ministers such as Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, reportedly opposed the pick and tried to weigh in on the presidential decision.

Prior to being appointed as prime minister, Attal was the most popular minister in Macron's cabinet according to polling data. Upon taking office, Attal became both the youngest head of government in French modern history and youngest state leader in the world. He is also the first openly LGBT person to lead a French government.

Choice for cabinet posts

The new Attal cabinet was widely described as the most right-leaning government since the start of the Macron presidency: out of the 14 cabinet ministers appointed on 11 January 2024 by Macron, 57% are former members of the conservative UMP/ LR party. Furthermore, right-leaning politicians are left holding the largest government portfolios, such as the Interior, Finance, Defence, Labour, Health, Culture and Environment, a political configuration seen as indicating a tilt to the right.

Additionally, longtime Macron allies and prominent left-leaning ministers of the outgoing Borne government, such as Rima Abdul-Malak (Culture), Clément Beaune (Transport) and Olivier Véran (Spokesperson), were sacked as part of the reshuffle.

Parliamentary history

Vote of confidence

On 16 January 2024, Attal announced that, like Élisabeth Borne before him, he would not be seeking a vote of confidence in the National Assembly as it is implicitly allowed in the French Constitution. If a confidence vote had taken place, Attal's government would have likely fallen as it was 39 seats short of an overall majority in the lower house.

As it was widely expected, left-wing LFI leader Manuel Bompard announced that his parliamentary group would table a motion of no confidence in response to Attal's decision. The no-confidence motion substantially failed to receive enough votes to topple the cabinet since right-wing parties refused to support the attempt at this early stage in the government's tenure.

End

On 9 June, Macron dissolved the National Assembly and called for a snap election. Following the second round of the election on 7 July, which resulted in a hung parliament, Attal announced his intent to submit his resignation to Macron the next day. However, the resignation was refused by Macron, who asked Attal to remain at least temporarily prime minister in order to help preserve stability. Attal's resignation was accepted on 16 July 2024. Despite this, Attal would stay on as head of a caretaker government,

The left-wing alliance New Popular Front proposed Lucie Castets as Prime Minister but Macron refused to appoint her, arguing that no party had won a majority. Attal remained in place as the head of a caretaker government, until Michel Barnier was appointed as Prime minister on 5 September. Attal's ministers remained as caretakers until the Barnier government was fully formed on 21 September.

Composition

As it is customary, Secretary General of the Presidency Alexis Kohler announced the new government's composition on 11 January 2024 from the Élysée Palace. Members of the previous government remained in office under a caretaking capacity until the appointment of the new government, as provided for in the French Constitution.

In February 2024, a second raft of government appointments took place: the total number of government ministers went up from 14 to 34. Apart from the numerous junior ministerial appointments, notably, the ministries of National Education and Sports, which had been merged in January through Amélie Oudéa-Castéra's appointment as Education and Sports minister, were once again de-merged. Oudéa-Castéra was demoted, returning as Sports minister, and former Justice minister Nicole Belloubet replaced her as Education minister. Additionally, Stanislas Guerini was re-appointed as Civil Service minister.

Ministers

Deputy Ministers

State Secretaries

Civil service

* Emmanuel Moulin, Chief of Staff to the Prime minister

Notes

References

{{Emmanuel Macron

2024 establishments in France
2024 disestablishments in France
Cabinets established in 2024
Cabinets disestablished in 2024
French governments
Presidency of Emmanuel Macron
Gabriel Attal