The appointment of Michel Barnier, aged 73, as Prime Minister marks a radical change in profile at Matignon compared to Gabriel Attal…
This Thursday, September 5, President Emmanuel Macron appointed Michel Barnier, aged 73, as the new Prime Minister, replacing Gabriel Attal, aged 35. A transfer of power was scheduled to take place at the end of the day at Matignon. It is not really known whether the two men have much to say to each other, but their profiles are in any case, in many respects, polar opposites.
Gabriel Attal, the youngest member of the government, was the youngest Prime Minister in the history of the Fifth Republic when he was appointed in 2024. Coming from the inner circle, this early loyalist of Emmanuel Macron, for whom he was the spokesperson, until now embodied a new generation of political leaders. Married and the father of a child, he also symbolized a certain modernity by being openly homosexual.
Michel Barnier belongs to the old guard of the Republican right. Having entered politics in 1973, the local elected official, rooted in his stronghold of Savoie, has been a European deputy, senator, several times minister in the 1990s and 2000s, and even European commissioner twice. Married for over 40 years and father of three children, he defines himself as a “mountain dweller”, proud of his provincial origins. With his old-fashioned notable appearance, white hair and three-piece suit, he contrasts with the style of his predecessor, more than ever associated with the “start-up nation” that Emmanuel Macron called for in 2017.
An unprecedented age difference
But beyond these differences in career and style, it is of course the age gap between the two heads of government that will undoubtedly be most noticeable in these days of transition. At 73, Michel Barnier will indeed be the oldest Prime Minister of the Fifth Republic when he takes office, beating the record previously held by Pierre Messmer (71 years old). Conversely, by acceding to Matignon at only 35 years old, Gabriel Attal had dethroned Laurent Fabius (37 years old) as the youngest head of government.
Almost 40 years separate the two men, something never seen before under the Fifth Republic for a transfer of power at Matignon. Such a gap raises questions about Emmanuel Macron’s strategy, after the youth and renewal embodied by Attal. By choosing to move from the youngest to the oldest Prime Minister, the Head of State is indeed playing a surprising, even daring role. This choice of a seasoned statesman, experienced in high-level negotiations, notably that of Brexit in which Michel Barnier was the actor on the European side, is undoubtedly linked to the very particular political context, with a fragmented National Assembly, without a real majority, where it will be necessary to engage in fierce dialogue with all camps to try to build compromises.
But the nomination of Barnier, who had made an unexpected rightward turn during the LR primary in 2021, is not unanimous, including in his own camp. For one LR MP, he embodies “everything that the French do not want” and risks “killing the right”. On the far right, people are making fun of this “political fossil straight out of Jurassic Park”.