French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday named Gabriel Attal as France's prime minister, in his bid to set a new course ahead of European Union elections in the summer.
Attal, who is currently education minister, will be the youngest person to hold France's second highest office at the age of 34.
Before this was announced, President Macron on Monday had first accepted the resignation of Elisabeth Borne who held the post of Prime Minister for less than two years.
In France, the prime minister heads the government and is appointed by the president, but cannot be fired directly by the president. Macron and Borne face a challenging 2023, with the government on the verge of collapse due to opposition from parliamentarians and the public to its efforts to raise the retirement age.
The government suffered another challenge in December, when an early draft of an immigration law considered a key Macron policy was rejected. It was finally approved after being modified to be stricter.
Ensemble, the liberal coalition comprising Macron's Renaissance party, is lagging behind the far-right National Rally party and the leftist New Ecological and Social People's Union. Attal, a close ally of Macron, was the most popular government minister based on the polls.
The political move comes ahead of European Parliament elections in June, where the Renaissance party is seeking to avoid any embarrassing defeat.
