Gabriel Nissim Attal de Couriss (; born 16 March 1989) is a French politician who was the
prime minister of France
The prime minister of France (), officially the prime minister of the French Republic (''Premier ministre de la République française''), is the head of government of the French Republic and the leader of its Council of Ministers.
The prime ...
from January to September 2024. He was the youngest and the first openly
gay
''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'.
While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...
prime minister in
French history
The first written records for the history of France appeared in the Iron Age.
What is now France made up the bulk of the region known to the Romans as Gaul. Greek writers noted the presence of three main ethno-linguistic groups in the area: t ...
. A member of the
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
party, he previously served in the
French Parliament
The French Parliament (, ) is the Bicameralism, bicameral parliament of the French Fifth Republic, consisting of the Senate (France), Senate (), and the National Assembly (France), National Assembly (). Each assembly conducts legislative sessi ...
and in various
ministerial positions.
Following his election to the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...
in the
2017 French legislative election
Legislative elections in France, Legislative elections were held in France on 11 and 18 June 2017 (with different dates for voters overseas) to elect the 577 Member of Parliament (France), members of the 15th legislature of the French Fifth Rep ...
, Attal became the junior minister to the minister of
national education and youth in 2018, which made him the youngest person to serve in the
Government of France
The Government of France (, ), officially the Government of the French Republic (, ), exercises Executive (government), executive power in France. It is composed of the Prime Minister of France, prime minister, who is the head of government, ...
since the establishment of the
Fifth Republic. He later served as the
spokesperson of the government in 2020; the
minister of public action and accounts in 2022; and the minister of national education and youth in 2023. On 9 January 2024, amid a
major government crisis, Attal was appointed to replace
Élisabeth Borne
Élisabeth Borne (; born 18 April 1961) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from May 2022 to January 2024. A member of President Emmanuel Macron's party Renaissance (French political party), Renaissance, she is the secon ...
as the prime minister by
French president
The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency is the supreme magistracy of the country, the pos ...
Emmanuel Macron
Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He was Ministry of Economy and Finance (France), Minister of Economics, Industr ...
, at age 34.
In June 2024, Macron
dissolved the National Assembly and called a
snap election
A snap election is an election that is called earlier than the one that has been scheduled. Snap elections in parliamentary systems are often called to resolve a political impasse such as a hung parliament where no single political party has a ma ...
following the defeat suffered by his political alliance in the
2024 European Parliament election
The 2024 European Parliament election was held in the European Union (EU) between 6 and 9 June 2024. It was the tenth Elections to the European Parliament, parliamentary election since the 1979 European Parliament election, first direct electio ...
. Attal led the ruling
Ensemble coalition into the
2024 legislative election which resulted in another hung parliament and electoral defeat for the government. On 7 July 2024, Attal announced his resignation as prime minister; accepted by President Macron on 16 July 2024. He remained as head of a
caretaker government
A caretaker government, also known as a caretaker regime, is a temporary ''ad hoc'' government that performs some governmental duties and functions in a country until a regular government is elected or formed. Depending on specific practice, it co ...
until
Michel Barnier
Michel Jean Barnier (; born 9 January 1951) is a French politician who was Prime Minister of France from September to December 2024. A member of a series of Gaullist parties ( UDR, RPR, UMP, LR), Barnier has served in several French cabinet p ...
succeeded him on 5 September 2024.
Early life and education
Attal was born on 16 March 1989 in
Clamart
Clamart () is a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris.
The town is divided into two parts, separated by a forest: ''bas Clamart'', the historical centre, and ''petit Clamart'' with urban ...
,
Île-de-France
The Île-de-France (; ; ) is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 residents on 1 January 2023. Centered on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the cou ...
. He grew up in the
13th
In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the Musical note, note thirteen scale degrees from the root (chord), root of a chord (music), chord and also the interval (music), interval between the root and the thirteenth. The thirteenth is m ...
and
14th arrondissements of Paris with three sisters. His father, Yves Attal, was a lawyer and film producer; his mother, Marie de Couriss, worked as an employee of a film production company.
[ His father was ]Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
and his mother a Russian Orthodox
The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...
Christian; Attal was raised in his mother's Orthodox Christian faith.[
Attal attended the ]École alsacienne
The École alsacienne is a co-educational private school located in the 6th arrondissement of Paris.
The school was founded by a group of French Alsatians after the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. It then became a model for reforming th ...
, an exclusive private school in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. He obtained a Baccalauréat
The ''baccalauréat'' (; ), often known in France colloquially as the ''bac'', is a French national academic qualification that students can obtain at the completion of their secondary education (at the end of the ''lycée'') by meeting certain ...
with a " Mention Très Bien" in 2007. He went on to study law at Panthéon-Assas University from 2008 to 2011, and earned a Master of Public Affairs
A Master of Public Affairs (MPA or MPAff) is a professional graduate degree that provides training in public policy and the operation of government. Courses required for this degree educate students in public and non-profit management, policy ana ...
from Sciences Po
Sciences Po () or Sciences Po Paris, also known as the Paris Institute of Political Studies (), is a public research university located in Paris, France, that holds the status of ''grande école'' and the legal status of . The university's unde ...
in 2012. He also spent a year (2009–2010) working with Éric de Chassey, director of the French Academy in Rome
The French Academy in Rome (, ) is an academy located in the Villa Medici, within the Villa Borghese, on the Pincio (Pincian Hill) in Rome, Italy.
History
The Academy was founded at the Palazzo Capranica in 1666 by Louis XIV under the dire ...
.
His earliest political activity was participation in the 2006 youth protests in France. Taking up a place at Sciences Po in 2007, he created a committee for the support of Íngrid Betancourt
Íngrid Betancourt Pulecio (; born 25 December 1961) is a Colombian-French politician, former senator, and anti-corruption activist. She gained international prominence after being kidnapped by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) i ...
, the Franco-Colombian hostage held by the FARC
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army (, FARC–EP or FARC) was a Marxist–Leninist guerrilla group involved in the continuing Colombian conflict starting in 1964. The FARC-EP was officially founded in 1966 from peasan ...
.
Political career
Early political career
After an internship at the French National Assembly
The National Assembly (, ) is the lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral French Parliament under the French Fifth Republic, Fifth Republic, the upper house being the Senate (France), Senate (). The National Assembly's legislators are known ...
with Marisol Touraine
Marisol Touraine (; born 7 March 1959) is a French politician who served as Minister of Social Affairs and Health under Prime Ministers Jean-Marc Ayrault,Angelique ChrisafisWomen in the French cabinet ''The Guardian'', 18 May 2012Olivier Augu ...
during the 2012 presidential campaign, Attal worked for five years as an assistant to the Minister of Health
A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare spending and other social security services.
Some governments have separate ministers for mental heal ...
, a role which involved parliamentary liaison and speechwriting.
In the 2014 municipal elections, Attal was placed fifth on the Socialist Party
Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...
list. He was elected as one of the four Socialist Party councillors
A councillor, alternatively councilman, councilwoman, councilperson, or council member, is someone who sits on, votes in, or is a member of, a council. This is typically an elected representative of an electoral district in a municipal or regi ...
of Vanves
Vanves () is a Communes of France, commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe and the tenth in France.
History
On ...
and took over the lead of the opposition, after the resignation of the head of the socialist list.
Member of the National Assembly (2017–2018)
Attal was elected to the French National Assembly on 18 June 2017, representing the Hauts-de-Seine's 10th constituency, winning out over the designated successor of André Santini
André Santini (; born 20 October 1940) is a French politician and current mayor of Issy-les-Moulineaux, Hauts-de-Seine.
A former member of the UDF, he did not support François Bayrou, the candidate of his party for the first round of the 2 ...
.
Attal was quickly considered one of the most talented new members of parliament, with Amélie de Montchalin. As a deputy
Deputy or depute may refer to:
* Steward (office)
* Khalifa, an Arabic title that can signify "deputy"
* Deputy (legislator), a legislator in many countries and regions, including:
** A member of a Chamber of Deputies, for example in Italy, Spain, ...
of the National Assembly, he became a member of the Committee on Cultural and Education Affairs, where he served as whip
A whip is a blunt weapon or implement used in a striking motion to create sound or pain. Whips can be used for flagellation against humans or animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain, or be used as an audible cue thro ...
of the group La République En Marche!.
In December 2017, Attal was appointed rapporteur
A rapporteur is a person who is appointed by an organization to report on the proceedings of its meetings. The term is a French-derived word.
For example, Dick Marty was appointed ''rapporteur'' by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Eur ...
on a bill on access to higher education.
Attal was named chairperson of La République En Marche!
Renaissance (RE) is a political party in France that is typically described as liberal and centrist or centre-right. The party was originally known as (EM) and later (, LREM, LaREM or REM), before adopting its current name in September 2022 ...
in January 2018 and in September 2018, after the election of Richard Ferrand to the presidency of the National Assembly, he ran as a candidate to succeed him as president of the group La République En Marche!, but withdrew his candidacy the day before the election when he was considered one of the three favourites. He later endorsed Roland Lescure.
Government minister (2018–2024)
On 16 October 2018, Attal was appointed ''Secrétaire d'État'' (junior minister
A minister is a politician who heads a ministry (government department), ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is desi ...
) to the Minister of National Education and Youth Jean-Michel Blanquer. At 29, he was the youngest member of a government under the Fifth Republic, beating the previous record set by François Baroin
François Claude Pierre René Baroin (; born 21 June 1965) is a French politician and lawyer who served as Finance Minister from 2011 to 2012, following a stint as Budget Minister in the government of Prime Minister François Fillon. A member o ...
in 1995 by a few months. As a junior minister, he was responsible for youth issues and setting up universal national service.[ From 2020 to 2022, he was the government spokesperson under Prime Minister ]Jean Castex
Jean Castex (; born 25 June 1965) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 3 July 2020 to 16 May 2022. He was a member of The Republicans (LR) until 2020. Castex served for twelve years as mayor of the small town of ...
. He became Minister of Public Action and Accounts in the government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...
of Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne
Élisabeth Borne (; born 18 April 1961) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from May 2022 to January 2024. A member of President Emmanuel Macron's party Renaissance (French political party), Renaissance, she is the secon ...
in May 2022.
In July 2023, Attal was appointed minister of national education and youth in the 2023 French government reshuffle. At the age of 34, he became the youngest person to hold that office under the Fifth Republic. In this position, he announced the ban on abayas under the "principle of secularism", extending a ban on religious symbols in French public schools that already included Christian crosses, Jewish Kippahs and Islamic veils.
Prime Minister (2024)
Attal and German chancellor in Berlin on 5 February 2024">Olaf Scholz in Berlin on 5 February 2024
Following Borne's resignation as prime minister on 8 January 2024, media sources announced Attal as favourite to succeed her. His appointment as Prime Minister was announced on 9 January 2024. At the age of 34, he became the youngest and the first openly gay person to hold the office in France.
Lacking a parliamentary majority as a result of the 2022 legislative election, Attal formed a minority government
A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in ...
, the second one since the start of the Macron Presidency. He appointed what was widely described as the most right-leaning cabinet since Macron took office, with over half of his senior ministers previously coming from the conservative UMP/LR party.
At the beginning of his tenure as prime minister, Attal was seen as one of the most popular politicians in France. The French media speculated that he was a potential contender in the 2027 presidential election.
On 16 January 2024, Attal announced that, like Élisabeth Borne
Élisabeth Borne (; born 18 April 1961) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from May 2022 to January 2024. A member of President Emmanuel Macron's party Renaissance (French political party), Renaissance, she is the secon ...
before him, he would not be seeking a vote of confidence
A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fit ...
in the National Assembly as implicitly allowed in the French Constitution.
On 9 June 2024, Macron called a snap election after his party's disappointing results in the 2024 European Parliament election. Although he was not in agreement with Macron's decision, Attal took on the leadership of Macron's
Ensemble alliance's election campaign. In the first round of voting on 30 June, Ensemble won only 20.0% of the votes, in third place behind the far-right National Rally
The National Rally (, , RN), known as the National Front from 1972 to 2018 (, , FN), is a French far-right politics, far-right political party, described as right-wing populist and French nationalism, nationalist. It is the single largest Nat ...
(RN) with 33.3% and the left-wing alliance New Popular Front
The New Popular Front ( , NFP) is a broad Left-wing politics, left-wing electoral alliance with centre-left politics, centre-left and far-left politics, far-left factions in France. It was launched on 10 June 2024 to contest the 2024 French leg ...
(NFP) with 28.0%, which constituted the worst electoral performance for a ruling coalition in a general election since the establishment of the Third Republic in 1870. Attal said that the priority was to prevent NR from gaining an absolute majority in the National Assembly and asked Ensemble candidates in third place against NR in their constituencies to withdraw from the second round of voting. The second round of voting on 7 July resulted in Ensemble winning 168 seats, behind NFP with 182 and ahead of RN with 143. Attal offered his resignation to the president the following morning, only for it to be refused by Macron, who asked him to stay on for the time being in order to maintain the stability of the country. Attal retained his own seat in the Hauts-de-Seine's 10th constituency with 58.2% of the vote in a contest against NFP candidate Cécile Soubelet.
On 13 July 2024, Attal was elected unopposed as leader of the Renaissance Party in the National Assembly with the support of 84 of the 98 Renaissance members. Macron formally accepted Attal's resignation on 16 July 2024, but at the same time asked him to remain in place as head of a caretaker government.
Post-premiership (2024–present)
On 5 September 2024, President Macron appointed Michel Barnier as the new prime minister. At the handover ceremony the following day, Attal made a speech in which he expressed his frustration at having had only eight months in office – too little time to see any of his plans come to fruition. On leaving the office of prime minister, he took on leadership of Macron's party in the National Assembly. Attal's tenure as prime minister is the third-shortest under the Fifth Republic, after Michel Barnier and Bernard Cazeneuve.
Personal life
In 2018, Attal was outed
Outing is the act of disclosing an LGBTQ person's sexual orientation or gender identity without their consent. It is often done for political reasons, either to instrumentalize homophobia, biphobia, and/or transphobia in order to discredit politi ...
on Twitter
Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
by his former École alsacienne classmate Juan Branco. Attal lived in a civil union
A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, primarily created to provide legal recognition for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage, with ch ...
with Stéphane Séjourné
Stéphane Séjourné (; born 26 March 1985) is a French politician of Renaissance who currently serves as Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy. He served as Minister for Europe and Foreign ...
at the time. Their relationship had ended by 2024. When they were both attending the École alsacienne, Attal had a relationship with singer Joyce Jonathan, but Jonathan said that the relationship was merely "a joke between us" and "a playtime crush". Attal said in a TV interview that he had been subjected to homophobic
Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as being lesbian, Gay men, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, or ant ...
bullying at school. He has also described being the target of homophobic and antisemitic
Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
hate speech
Hate speech is a term with varied meaning and has no single, consistent definition. It is defined by the ''Cambridge Dictionary'' as "public speech that expresses hate or encourages violence towards a person or group based on something such as ...
on social media
Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...
as a politician. Attal has also been criticized by LGBT rights organizations
LGBTQ rights organizations are NGO, non-governmental civil rights organization, civil rights, healthcare and the LGBT community, health, and community organizations that promote the civil rights, civil and human rights and public health, health o ...
for not being outspoken enough about his sexuality and the promotion of LGBT rights. Though baptized as a member of the Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...
, Attal considers himself an atheist
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
.
Ancestry
Attal's father was of Tunisian Jewish and Alsatian Jewish descent. His mother is of French and Greek-Russian ancestry from Odesa
Odesa, also spelled Odessa, is the third most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern ...
, her grandfather having arrived in France as a White Russian émigré. Genealogists have found both French and Russian
Russian(s) may refer to:
*Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*A citizen of Russia
*Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages
*''The Russians'', a b ...
nobility, including members of the La Forest-Divonne family in France and the House of Golitsyn
The House of Golitsyn (, ) is the second largest and noblest Princely house in Russia.Jean-Marie Thiébaud , A great princely family of Russia, the Galitzines. Genealogy and historical notes , Paris, 1997. Among its members were warlords, lan ...
in Russia, amongst her ancestors. Through his mother, Attal is descended from King Charles VI of France
Charles VI (3 December 136821 October 1422), nicknamed the Beloved () and in the 19th century, the Mad ( or ''le Fou''), was King of France from 1380 until his death in 1422. He is known for his mental illness and psychosis, psychotic episodes t ...
and Queen consort Isabeau of Bavaria
Isabeau of Bavaria (or Isabelle; also Elisabeth of Bavaria-Ingolstadt; c. 1370 – 24 September 1435) was Queen of France as the wife of King Charles VI of France, Charles VI from 1385 to 1422. She was born into the House of Wittelsbach a ...
, who signed the Treaty of Troyes
The Treaty of Troyes was an agreement that King Henry V of England and his heirs would inherit the French throne upon the death of King Charles VI of France. It was formally signed in the French city of Troyes on 21 May 1420 in the aftermath of ...
of 1420, which made King Henry V of England
Henry V (16 September 1386 – 31 August 1422), also called Henry of Monmouth, was King of England from 1413 until his death in 1422. Despite his relatively short reign, Henry's outstanding military successes in the Hundred Years' War against ...
heir to the French throne during the Hundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a conflict between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France and a civil war in France during the Late Middle Ages. It emerged from feudal disputes over the Duchy ...
.
See also
* List of Jewish heads of state and government
* List of openly LGBT heads of state and government
* List of state leaders by age: youngest serving state leaders
* Second Philippe government
Notes
References
External links
*
, -
, -
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Attal, Gabriel
Gabriel Attal
1989 births
Living people
Deputies of the 15th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic
Deputies of the 17th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic
Government ministers of France
Renaissance (French political party) politicians
People from Clamart
Politicians from Île-de-France
Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas University alumni
French people of Tunisian-Jewish descent
French people of Greek descent
French people of Russian descent
Sciences Po alumni
LGBTQ legislators in France
LGBTQ government ministers
LGBTQ heads of government
French gay politicians
Members of the Borne government
21st-century French LGBTQ people
Budget ministers of France
Ministers of national education of France
Prime ministers of France
Former Russian Orthodox Christians
French atheists
French former Christians
Members of the Attal government
Members of Parliament for Hauts-de-Seine