Omnipresent during the European campaign, Gabriel Attal has disappeared from the radar since the announcement of the dissolution of the National Assembly. A hard blow for the one who will play his position in the legislative elections.
A week ago, Gabriel Attal was criticized for his omnipresence in the European election campaign. But two days after the election, a completely new observation emerged: the Prime Minister had disappeared. Since his last public appearance, Sunday June 9 in his polling station in Vanves (Hauts-de-Seine), the head of government has remained completely absent from the media. Even his X account has been silent since Sunday evening.
He barely broke his silence this Tuesday morning for the meeting with the Renaissance deputies. “I will carry out my duty as a citizen attached to his country who will give everything to avoid the worst,” he declared to those who have just lost their mandate, according to BFMTV.
The dissolution of the Assembly was “a shock”
No agenda was communicated by Matignon to the press for the week. The Whatsapp loop which is used to inform journalists of Gabriel Attal’s movements has remained silent since this weekend, according to The world. While other members of the government are already attacking the media again, the Prime Minister, for the moment, is taking his turn.
It must be said that the announcement of the dissolution of the National Assembly, decided by Emmanuel Macron, was a real “shock” for Attal, confides a close friend of the executive to World. Unlike other ministers who had been taken into the confidence earlier, the young tenant of Matignon learned the news on Sunday evening, a few minutes before the rest of the French. He did not fail to express his reluctance to the president, going so far as to offer his resignation as an alternative: “I am the fuse, I want to blow this evening”, he is said to have declared, according to BFMTV.
The failure of the “anti-RN weapon”
Suggestion rejected by Emmanuel Macron : “You are not resigning, I need you to lead the legislative battle,” the head of state would have replied to his foal. The fact remains that, for now, the legislative campaign is starting without Gabriel Attal. The microphones prepared in the Matignon courtyard for a possible post-European speech on Sunday evening were put away without having been used. During a new executive meeting at the Elysée, just after the presidential address, the Prime Minister remained silent, participants say.
Is Gabriel Attal struggling to find his place in the new campaign which is opening with a view to the legislative elections? We can understand this: The one who was appointed to Matignon in January to serve as an “anti-RN weapon” was clearly defeated in his mission, if we look at the results of the European elections. And while the strategy of the presidential camp, in recent weeks, has consisted of setting up a duel between Gabriel Attal and Jordan Bardella, everything indicates that the second could take the place of the first at Matignon in less than a month.