GABRIEL ATTAL. He finally inherits the Public Accounts portfolio. At 33, Gabriel Attal, the youngest member of the government, leaves the spokesperson to take the lead…
[Mis à jour le 20 mai 2022 à 18h44] The announcement was made by Alexis Kohler, on the steps of the Elysée, this Friday, May 20, 2022, as tradition dictates: Gabriel Attal, who until now was government spokesperson, was promoted to Minister Delegate for Public accounts with the Minister of the Economy Bruno Le Maire who does not move. This appointment, if it does not concern a full-fledged ministry as one might expect, sounds like a promotion for the 33-year-old politician, a historic member of Emmanuel Macron’s entourage, with his companion, the MEP Stéphane Séjourné and Alexis Kohler, essential secretary general of the Elysée.
In two years, the youngest of the government will have proven himself by taking the microphone every week at the end of the Council of Ministers. By speaking on all issues and all crises, almost without missteps and with a few well-felt punchlines against opposition, Gabriel Attal has even established himself as an essential figure at the end of the five-year term. As the cabinet reshuffle approached, it therefore seemed increasingly likely that he would land a promotion and be appointed head of a ministry. The Sciences Po graduate and loyal supporter of the Head of State was even certain of being promoted, the name of Olivia Grégoire having been revealed for his succession to the post of spokesperson very early before the reshuffle.
Before this reshuffle and his appointment to the Public Accounts, Gabriel Attal was logically mentioned in certain lists of ministers approached, sometimes in National Education, where he already worked under the orders of Jean-Michel Blanquer, sometimes in Higher Education or still in Health, a ministry in which he made his political debut. Gabriel Attal has not publicly expressed his government ambitions, but he would have indicated behind the scenes that he was tempted to take over from Jean-Michel Blanquer rue de Grenelle. The school being presented, with health, as one of the main projects of the second five-year term of Emmanuel Macron, the Ministry of National Education announced itself for him as a new key position. The ace.
Still, at the Ministry of Public Accounts, Gabriel Attal will hold the purse strings for the entire government. The Minister of Public Accounts is generally the terror of his government colleagues who are regularly at the request of favorable budgetary arbitrations. A little-known position, but generally among the most powerful in government, in short.
Gabriel Attal, minister and legislative candidate
Gabriel Attal, deputy for Hauts-de-Seine since 2017, is throwing himself into the water again for the 2022 legislative elections by standing for re-election in the 10th district of Hauts-de-Seine, on June 12 and 19. A risk for a newly appointed minister: in the event of defeat, his mission at Bercy would be immediately compromised.
Conversely, Gabriel Attal will be able, in the event of victory, to appear as a minister credited with the confidence of the voters. He has already been elected twice in his early days: as a socialist municipal councilor in Vanves then deputy of the presidential majority in the National Assembly, in 2017.
The 30-year-old can also boast of already having extensive experience in government, having been Secretary of State to the Minister of National Education and then to the head of government as a spokesperson.
From socialist activist to pillar of LREM in government
It was under the label of the PS that Gabriel Attal took his first steps in politics, in 2006, to support the candidacy of Ségolène Royal in the presidential election of 2007. But the young man was already defending a vision of the left where humanist values had to rub shoulders with liberalism. After taking positions and political activism during his studies at Sciences Po Paris, Gabriel Attal made his way to the National Assembly and then to the office of the Minister of Health in 2012 and, until 2017, with Marisol Touraine. He holds the role of political adviser and is often at the origin of official speeches.
The year 2017 was a turning point in the biography of Gabriel Attal, who swapped the PS for LREM and joined Emmanuel Macron’s movement from its inception. He also embarked on the legislative race in the 10th district of Hauts-de-Seine and won. Integrated into the core of the party and noted for his aplomb and his sharp political sense, despite his young age, he was propelled to the role of spokesperson for La République en Marche in 2018 until his entry into government.
Gabriel Attal was appointed Secretary of State to the Minister of National Education at the age of 29, and became the youngest member of the government of the Fifth Republic. A young age which makes him appear in the eyes of some as a “prodigy” or a “star” of politics. Far from making up the numbers, the young man carries important files for the five-year term such as universal national service. His efforts and his performances in the media are appreciated in high places and open his voice to become government spokesperson, i.e. Secretary of State to the Prime Minister, on July 6, 2020.
Origin, education, background… Who is Gabriel Attal?
If Gabriel Attal has the gab when it comes to politics, the man is more discreet about his personal life and surprisingly, nothing predestined the young man to embark on political life. His father, Yves Attal, who died of cancer in 2015, was a lawyer and film producer while his mother, Mayor of Couriss, worked in a production company. Born in 1989 in Clamart in the Hauts-de-Seine, Gabriel Attal grew up in Paris with his three sisters. Since then, the Attal family has grown with the adoption of the son of a first cousin, who died around 2015, Nikolai, whose government spokesman admitted to Gala be very close.
The attraction for the policy of Gabriel Attal was born during the presidential election of 2002, which opposed Jean-Marie Le Pen to Jacques Chirac in the second round. The politician was then only 13 years old, but followed his parents in a demonstration against the National Front. This political sense is felt later in the study choices of Gabriel Attal, today a graduate of the Ecole alsacienne, of Science Po Paris for a master’s degree in public affairs, and a law degree passed at the university. Paris II Pantheon-Assas. It is an end-of-study internship obtained within the National Assembly which will make the junction between the university course and the political career of Gabriel Attal.
Gabriel Attal and Stéphane Séjourné, a couple at the top
Rather silent about his private life, Gabriel Attal does not hide his homosexuality, but speaks very little of his romantic relationships. He nevertheless reveals his relationship with Stéphane Séjourné, former adviser to Emmanuel Macron and now MEP, on August 20, 2017. The two men, who have become essential in the restricted spheres of power, met and had a an “immediate love at first sight” at the beginning of 2015 during a work meeting in Bercy, they told the World in 2021.
Gabriel Attal and Stéphane Séjourné are now PACS partners. The formalization of the couple also corresponds to the formal coming-out of Gabriel Attal. Before his relationship with Stéphane Séjourné, the only publicly known romantic relationship of the government spokesperson was that which united him to singer Joyce Jonathan for two years.