Gabriel Attal becomes youngest and first openly gay PM of France

French President Emanuel Macron picked Gabriel Attal to become the next prime minister of the country. At 34, Attal became the youngest premier in the country's political history and also the first openly gay head of the government.

Attal, who is the current education minister, succeeds 62-year-old Elisabeth Borne, who stepped down after serving two years in office.

“The President of the Republic has appointed Mr Gabriel Attal as prime minister, and tasked him with forming a government,” the French presidency announced in a press release on Tuesday.

Borne, who is the second woman to serve as French prime minister, resigned on Monday ahead of a much-anticipated Cabinet reshuffle.

The announcement was made head of the European parliament elections scheduled for June 9 where Macron risks facing defeat against far-right under Marine Le Pen.

According to Politico, citing aggregated polls, Macron holds a 30 per cent approval rating and his coalition trails the far-right National Rally by about 10 points in European election polling.

Experts believe that the widely expected cabinet reshuffle might reset the French political discourse, which has been rife with protests against Macron's unpopular pension reforms and controversy over immigration legislation.

Macron also hopes, experts say, that the cabinet rejig might give a boost to his centrist presidency, which will end in 2027.

During his short tenure as the education minister, Attal pushed key education reforms including bypassing parents’ approval to hold students back a year and elevating the difficulty level of standardised tests.

He also spearheaded a new civic service proposal for teenagers and spoke out in favor of trialing compulsory uniforms in schools.

Notably during the New Year’s Eve address, the French president vowed to make education one of his key priorities for the new year and “restore students’ performance level, teachers’ authority and the strength of secular education”.