President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday, January 9, named Education Minister Gabriel Attal as prime minister in a bid to give new momentum to his presidency, with the 34-year-old becoming France's youngest and first gay head of government, a source close to the presidency told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
Macron late on Monday accepted the resignation of Elisabeth Borne, 62, after serving less than two years in office, ahead of a widely expected cabinet reshuffle that seeks to breathe new life into the final three years of his mandate.
Commentators have seen the reshuffle as essential to relaunching Macron's centrist presidency for its last three years and prevent him becoming a "lame duck" leader after a series of crises.
Since he defeated the far right to win a second term in 2022, Macron has faced protests over unpopular pension reforms, the loss of his overall majority in parliamentary elections and controversy over immigration legislation. While Macron cannot run again in 2027 presidential elections, relaunching his government is seen as crucial to helping prevent Marine Le Pen from becoming president.
Under the French system, the president sets general policies and the prime minister is responsible for day-to-day government management, meaning the latter often pays the price when an administration runs into turbulence.
European Parliament elections in June will pose a major test, with Macron's Renaissance party risking embarrassment at the hands of Le Pen's Rassemblement National (RN).
Attal is a more political figure than the technocratic Borne, and polls have shown him to be the most popular government minister. He will go toe-to-toe ahead of the European elections with another rising star of French politics, the even younger Jordan Bardella, just 28, who is now party leader of the far-right RN. Attal will be the fourth prime minister since 2017 under Macron, who has been accused by critics of micro-managing and centralizing power in the Elysée.
Other key posts are also subject to uncertainty, in particular that of Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, 41, a right-winger said to covet the post of foreign minister held by Catherine Colonna. Macron likes "keeping all options open until the last moment," a source close to the Elysée said.