Gabriel Attal

Gabriel Attal (born 16 March 1989) is a French politician of the Renaissance party who has served as Minister of National Education and Youth in the government of Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne since July 2023. He was the government spokesperson from 2020 to 2022 and Minister of Public Action and Accounts between 2022 and 2023 under President Emmanuel Macron.
Early life and education
Attal was born on 16 March 1989 in Clamart. He grew up in the 13th and 14th arrondissements (districts) of Paris with three sisters. His father, Yves Attal, was a lawyer and film producer of half Alsatian Jewish and half Tunisian Jewish descent, and his mother, Marie de Couriss, was of French and Greek-Russian ancestry and worked as an employee of a film production company.
Attal attended a private school, the École alsacienne, in the 6th arrondissement. His political activity started when he participated in the 2006 youth protests in France. Taking up a place at Sciences Po in 2007, he created a committee for the support of Íngrid Betancourt, the Franco-Colombian hostage held by the FARC. He graduated from Sciences Po in 2012 with a Master of Public Affairs, having studied law at Panthéon-Assas University from 2008 to 2011, with a year (2009-2010) spent working with Éric de Chassey, director of the French Academy at Rome.
After an internship at the French National Assembly with Marisol Touraine during the presidential campaign, Gabriel Attal worked for five years as an advisor to the Minister of Health, a role which involved parliamentary liaison and speechwriting.
Political career
Member of the Municipal council of Vanves
In the 2014 municipal elections Attal was placed fifth on the Socialist Party list. He was elected as one of the four Socialist Party councilors of Vanves and took over the lead of the opposition, after the resignation of the head of socialist list.
Member of the National Assembly
Attal was elected to the French National Assembly on 18 June 2017, representing the Hauts-de-Seine's 10th constituency, winning out over the designated successor of André Santini.
Attal was quickly considered one of the most talented new members of parliament, with Amélie de Montchalin. As a deputy of the National Assembly he became a member of the Committee on Cultural and Education Affairs, where he served as whip of the group La République En Marche!.
In December 2017, Attal was appointed rapporteur on a bill on access to higher education.
Attal was named spokesperson of La République En Marche! in January 2018 and in September 2018, after the election of Richard Ferrand to the presidency of the National Assembly, he ran as a candidate to succeed him as president of the group La République En Marche!, but withdrew his candidacy the day before the election when he was considered one of the three favourites. He later endorsed Roland Lescure.
Member of the Government
On 16 October 2018, Attal was appointed Secrétaire d'État (junior minister) to the Minister of National Education and Youth, Jean-Michel Blanquer. At 29, he was the youngest member of a government under the Fifth Republic, beating the previous record set by François Baroin in 1995 by a few months. He was responsible for youth issues and setting up universal national service.
He was the government spokesperson under Prime Minister Jean Castex from 2020 to 2022.
He became Minister of Public Action and Accounts in the government of Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne in May 2022.
In July 2023, Attal was appointed Minister of National Education and Youth in the 2023 French government reshuffle. Aged 34, he became the youngest person to hold that office under the Fifth Republic.
On 27 August 2023, Attal announced a ban on the wearing of abayas (loose-fitting robes worn by some Muslim women) in state schools.
Personal life
Attal is gay and lives in a civil union with Stéphane Séjourné, a member of the European Parliament for La République En Marche!. In 2018, he was outed on Twitter by his former classmate Juan Branco.
See also
2017 French legislative election
Second Philippe government
References
1989 births
Living people
Deputies of the 15th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic
Government ministers of France
Renaissance (French political party) politicians
People from Clamart
Politicians from Île-de-France
Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas University alumni
French people of Tunisian-Jewish descent
Sciences Po alumni
LGBT legislators in France
LGBT government ministers
French gay men
Gay politicians
Gay Jews
Members of the Borne government
21st-century French LGBT people
French Ministers of Budget
French Ministers of National Education