The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has appointed the 34-year-old Gabriel Attal as the country’s prime minister.
Attal will be the youngest prime minister since the establishment of the French Fifth Republic in 1958, surpassing the socialist Laurent Fabius, who was 37 when he was appointed by François Mitterrand in 1984.
Also, Attal will be the first homosexual to serve as the second most powerful politician in the country.
Gabriel Attal, who was previously Minister of Education, was born in 1989 in Hauts-de-Seine. During his tenure, he passed a controversial ban on the wearing of the hijab in French public schools and has worked to raise awareness of bullying in schools.
The politician has already served in a number of roles, including government spokesman and public accounts minister.
At the beginning of his career, Attal was a member of the Socialist party, but later joined Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party, now known as Renaissance.
He replaces Elisabeth Borne, who resigned from her post on Monday (8 January) after a 20-month term.
