Xinhua News Agency Express: According to French media reports, French Minister of National Education and Youth Gabriel Atal was appointed as the new prime minister on the 9th.
FILE PHOTO: Gabriel Attar makes a statement to the media in Paris, France. Xinhua/AFP
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On July 20, 2023, 34-year-old Gabriel Attar was appointed France's Minister of National Education and Youth. According to AFP, although Atal is the youngest member of the government, the young Macronist has established a prestige that cannot be ignored.
Now, Attar succeeds Papu Ndiaye at the helm of the sprawling ministry, and he is also the youngest head of the department with the largest government budget during the Fifth Republic era, the report said. Attar will face many challenges: a teacher recruitment crisis, school bullying, secularism controversies, etc.
At the handover ceremony with Ndiaye, Attar laid out a roadmap of "three priorities": "respect for authority and the core fundamentals of the school", not replacing absent teachers and not reducing the well-being of students, including combating bullying in schools.
Attar is a graduate of Sciences Po and previously attended the highly tuition-intensive Alsatian school. As soon as he took office, he chose to defuse two negative evaluations: his youth and his time at this highly elite private school.
"Yes, I went to a private school. I have nothing to deny or apologize for. He said.
Attar has often shown a keen interest in educational issues, and his appointment is in any way a recognition of what he does, four years after he became the youngest member of the government. When he held the humble post of State Secretary for the Ministry of National Education and Youth, he did not get along with the then minister, Jean-Michel Blanquet...... Now he will take his place.
Gabriel Attar
His supporters praised his "ability to work" and "political sense," as well as the ambition of the young man, whose father had been a filmmaker. In June 2023, he admitted on Radio 1 in Europe: "If I had tied my hands, I probably wouldn't be where I am today." ”
This "spiritual son of Marisol Tourenne" worked in the office of the Minister of Health under François Hollande. When Macron launched his own campaign in 2016, he was one of the first Socialists to follow him.
After Macron's victory in 2017, Attar was elected to the National Assembly for the right-wing constituency in the Seine and was re-elected in June 2022.
In July 2020, when the new prime minister, Jean Casté, took over the Palais Mathion and asked: "Have we found an extra errand for the young Gabriel?"
To hone himself, he eventually took over the position of government spokesman, a high-profile position that both revealed his talents and exposed his weaknesses.
From the television studio to the press conference after a cabinet meeting, Attar showed himself in the second half of his term, although his chances of victory were sometimes disappointing: for example, when he assured that no teacher would earn less than 2,000 euros a month in 2022, he had to apologize, because the measure would not be implemented until two years later.
In fact, over time, he is becoming one of the few people in the government who has gained popularity in public opinion.
Gabriel Attar
After Macron's re-election, Atal was appointed ministerial deputy in charge of public accounts in the spring of 2022, a position that earned him more promotions.
In this position that is both serious and strategic, he has focused his efforts on fighting the far right, putting on the guise of a defender of the middle class and trying to win back disillusioned voters.
In early June, he told AFP that "budget choices are first and foremost political choices" that take into account "what is happening" in the country, and those close to him described him as "diligent and quick to get on top of issues," before pointing to a weakness of the ambitious politician: the difficulty of striking a balance between "propaganda and substance".
Source: Chongqing Daily Comprehensive Xinhua News Agency, reference news