The arrival of Gabriel Attal in Matignon this Tuesday, January 9 after the resignation of Élisabeth Borne did not fail to cause a reaction in the international press: from the British Guardian to the Spanish País, everyone noted that Gabriel Attal is the first openly homosexual politician to become Prime Minister in France, and the youngest to hold the office in the Fifth Republic, at only 34 years old. Everyone, above all, also sees the advent of a politician in the image of the president.
Across the Channel, Gabriel Attal, described as a “Macron boy”, must take up the challenge of “saving the presidency of his mentor”, headlines The Telegraph. An observation shared by the British newspaper The Guardian: “Baby Macron” was appointed to “reinvigorate a difficult second term”, plagued by a rise in the popularity of the far right, analyzes Angélique Chrisafis whose article opens the site of the daily newspaper on January 9, before emphasizing the “calm, sometimes fierce” attitude of the ephemeral tenant of rue de Grenelle, whose art of political communication was revealed during the Covid-19 pandemic.
His colleague, Kim Willsher, notes in the columns of the same newspaper “a spectacular trajectory, even for someone from a privileged background like Attal, for whom each career progression seems to have been remarkably easy”. He also cites his perfect mastery of political language, which earned him the nickname “word sniper”.
Across the Atlantic, the appointment of Gabriel Attal is seen as an attempt to “rebalance the political balance” on the part of Emmanuel Macron, according to the Washington Post: “Macron perhaps hopes that Attal’s brilliance will rub off on him », Further deciphers the American daily, recalling the popularity of the former Minister of Education.
The head of the Paris bureau of the New York Times, Roger Cohen, immediately draws a parallel between Macron’s age at the time of the 2017 campaign, 39, and the 38 years that Gabriel Attal will be at time of the next presidential election. “For Macron, whose mandate is limited, this makes it possible to place a protégé in the race for his succession,” notes the journalist, who notes in passing the evolution from the center left to the center right of the new head of government, from its president from the socialist ranks.
This comparison with Emmanuel Macron is also at the heart of the article in the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, with the laconic title: “Clone of the president”. “Could it be that Macron is building his successor?” asks the author in the preamble.
The foreign press also mentions the passage of Gabriel Attal by the Ministry of Education, the ban on the wearing of the abaya and the experimentation with the uniform at school, projects described as “controversial”, and which have contributed to making him a popular minister, recall all the newspapers. Only La Repubblica likes to comment on the physique of the new head of government: Gabriel Attal, “gay and anti-Salvini”, looks “even younger than his age with his lean and agile physique”.
Finally, everyone focuses on describing the meteoric journey of the new head of government from a privileged background: in ten years, he went from “obscure advisor to the Ministry of Health” to occupant of Matignon, underlines the BBC . However, during his studies at Sciences Po twelve years ago, his former classmates already saw him as president, Politico mischievously reveals in its portrait of the politician. “If we look at his CV, we realize that he especially embodies Parisianism,” tempers a journalist from the Swiss daily Le Temps in a column.
In Spain, the Spanish daily El País admires the evolution of the “prodigal son” of French politics, while El Mundo speaks of the “meteoric career” of a minister in the image of the president, while highlighting Attal warns: this new position is not without risk for a potential presidential candidate, who could risk burning out by then.
