No more floating. At the age of 34, Gabriel Attal was appointed Prime Minister on Tuesday 9 January, replacing Élisabeth Borne. His youthful face, his lively personality, his dynamism and his qualities as a good communicator are obvious. In short, a sort of anti-portrait of Élisabeth Borne, whose primary mission will be to give a new political breath to a five-year term which, less than two years after its launch, already needs it.

"The youngest President of the Republic in history appoints the youngest Prime Minister in history. I want to see only one symbol: that of audacity and movement," said Gabriel Attal on Tuesday afternoon during the handover of power to Élisabeth Borne.

LIVE | Handover ceremony in Matignon between @Elisabeth_Borne and @GabrielAttal. https://t.co/YIrCrsaAed

— Government (@gouvernementFR) January 9, 2024

The first step will therefore be to draw a line under a year 2023 marked by a pension reform that was passed by force and an immigration law that divided the presidential majority. For Emmanuel Macron, replacing Élisabeth Borne with Gabriel Attal is a way of forgetting the face that embodied the government's difficulties on these two major texts, as well as the 23 invokes of Article 49.3 of the Constitution.

It also means being able to count on a popular figure. In December, the former Minister of National Education took first place in the ranking of political figures with 40% of favourable opinions, according to the latest Ipsos political barometer, ahead of Édouard Philippe (39%), Marine Le Pen (37%), Jordan Bardella (36%), Marion Maréchal (30%), and far ahead of ministers Bruno Le Maire (29%), Gérald Darmanin (29%) and Olivier Véran (26%).

Read alsoImmigration law: the day Emmanuel Macron offered a political victory to the far right

But beyond the cosmetic effect, Gabriel Attal will above all play a political role. His first mission will be to try to heal the wounds left open within the majority by the vote, with the party Les Républicains (LR) and the National Rally (RN), of an immigration law that borrows from the fundamentals of the far right. The task will not be easy, but Emmanuel Macron has no doubt judged that this rather consensual profile would be more likely to achieve it than that of Sébastien Lecornu or Gérald Darmanin, both from LR.

Gabriel Attal will also have to lead the battle in the European elections, scheduled for June. Far behind the National Rally in voting intentions – 27% for the RN against 19% for Renaissance and its allies, according to the latest OpinionWay poll for Les Echos – the presidential majority list is in dire need of a Prime Minister whose voice will be audible to voters and capable of mobilising them.

A child of Macronism

This appointment is therefore first and foremost a political coup for the President of the Republic, who hopes to find a new impetus. Will Gabriel Attal's arrival in Matignon result in a change of political line? It's hard to say yes.

By preferring him to a personality from the right, Emmanuel Macron shows that he wants to see the spirit of "at the same time" continue, which he also explains in his message posted on X, evoking "fidelity to the spirit of 2017: surpassing and audacity".

Dear @GabrielAttal, I know that I can count on your energy and commitment to implement the rearmament and regeneration project that I have announced. In fidelity to the spirit of 2017: surpassing oneself and daring. At the service of the Nation and the French people.

— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) January 9, 2024

However, the experience of Élisabeth Borne has shown that there is no need to leave the ranks of Les Républicains to pursue a policy marked by the right. Among the main texts carried by the former Prime Minister, despite being presented as a woman of the left, many have been right-wing texts: pensions, immigration, reform of unemployment benefits, reform of the RSA.

As for Gabriel Attal, his short stint at the Ministry of National Education – less than six months – will be remembered in particular for his desire to re-establish authority in schools. This discourse resulted in a ban on the wearing of the abaya, considered by the government as a religious garment, and an experiment on the wearing of uniforms. Both measures are more supported by the right than by the left.

See alsoBack to school: Minister Gabriel Attal makes his mark and makes more announcements

And even though he was active in the Socialist Party for ten years between the ages of 16 and 26 and was a member of Health Minister Marisol Touraine's cabinet during François Hollande's five-year term, Gabriel Attal is above all a child of Macronism. Loyal among the loyal followers of the head of state, whom he has supported since 2016 and to whom he "owes everything", in his own words, the new Prime Minister should not step aside.

The political context remains unchanged

Firstly, because Emmanuel Macron does not give much autonomy to his heads of government, but also because there is a good chance that the future government team will strongly resemble the previous one. Like his predecessors, Gabriel Attal will therefore carry out the policy decided by the Élysée.

"Dear Gabriel Attal, I know I can count on your energy and commitment to implement the rearmament and regeneration project that I have announced," Macron said on X, referring to his New Year's greetings to the French people on December 31, during which the president spoke of "economic rearmament," "rearmament of the state and our public services" and "civic rearmament."

These formulas maintain a certain vagueness, but which could lead us to believe that the focus will be on education in the coming months, always against the backdrop of the idea of restoring "order, order, order", as Emmanuel Macron repeated in July, a month after the urban violence triggered by the death of young Nahel.

Read alsoAt the end of the 100 days, Emmanuel Macron poses as president of "order, order, order"

During the handover of power to Élisabeth Borne, Gabriel Attal insisted on this issue: "I am taking with me, here in Matignon, the cause of schools. I reaffirm the school as the mother of our battles, the one that must be at the heart of our priorities and to which I will give as Prime Minister all the means of action necessary for its success. It will be one of my top priorities as head of government. From this point of view, there will be a form of continuity," he said.

While the heads are changing, the political context remains the same. The difficulties encountered by Élisabeth Borne will be the same for Gabriel Attal: a relative majority in the National Assembly, the almost systematic obligation to come to an agreement with LR in order to pass laws, the need to resort to 49.3 on budget texts and a President of the Republic who is adept at making announcements decided – and sometimes improvised – in very small committees, without informing his Prime Minister.

The latest idea concerns the famous "great rendezvous with the nation" promised for mid-January. Mystery still surrounds its contents. Gabriel Attal should soon be able to unravel the secret of the gods.

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