GABRIEL ATTAL. The Minister in charge of Public Accounts easily comes out on top against Nupes with nearly 50% of the vote.
Look for a legislative result near you
[Mis à jour le 12 juin 2022 à 23h59] Gabriel Attal took the risk of jeopardizing his post as Minister of Public Accounts during the legislative elections. This bet could pay off, according to the partial results communicated by the Ministry of the Interior after the first round. The former government spokesperson arrives at the head of the 10th constituency of Hauts-de-Seine with 48.06% votes, ahead of Cécile Soubelet de la Nupes (30.75%) whom he will face in the 2nd round, on June 19th.
Never mind, Gabriel Attal takes the risk as he indicated to the Parisian : “I am a candidate for my re-election because, five years ago, voters made this bold choice to elect me, which allowed me to have this career path within the government. I find it healthy to renew their confidence. If I am not elected, of course I will leave the government, that is the rule”. A risk that remains measured because Gabriel Attal is advancing under good omens, starting with the score obtained by Emmanuel Macron in the first round of the presidential election, 38.75% with 14 points ahead of Jean-Luc Mélenchon who came second in the ballot. Not to mention that without a candidate from the right and the center facing him, the path is more easily traced even if it is still necessary to get ahead of the candidate invested by Nupes, Cécile Soubelet.
Before the 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. He finally landed in Bercy as Minister Delegate to the Minister of the Economy, Bruno Le Maire. 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.
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 colleagues in the government who are regularly at the request of favorable budgetary arbitrations. A little-known position, but generally among the most powerful in government, in short.
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 Minister of Public Accounts admitted to Gala be very close.
The attraction for Gabriel Attal’s politics was born during the 2002 presidential election, which pitted Jean-Marie Le Pen against Jacques Chirac in the second round. The minister 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.
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. Gabriel Attal climbs a new step on May 20 2022 when he is appointed Minister of Action and Public Accounts for Emmanuel Macron’s second term.