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03:18

Emmanuel Macron has appointed 34-year-old Education Minister Gabriel Attal as his new prime minister on Tuesday, as the French President seeks to breathe new life into his second mandate ahead of European parliament elections.

Attal, a close ally of Marcon, becomes France's youngest - and first openly gay - prime minister.

"The Macron-Attal duo can bring a new lease of life (to the government)," said Harris Interactive pollster Jean-Daniel Levy.

The move comes after Elisabeth Borne's resignation on Monday. In her resignation letter, Borne said she and Macron agreed in their last meeting that "it was more necessary than ever to push on with reforms."

Then French Education and Youth Minister Gabriel Attal watches French President Emmanuel Macron talking to the press at the Gambetta high school in Arras, northeastern France. /Ludovic Marin/AP

Macron first fueled speculation of a government reshuffle in December by promising a new political initiative, after 2023 was bookended by political crises prompted by highly contested reforms of the pension system and immigration laws.

The move will not necessarily lead to any major political shift, but signals a desire for Macron to try to move beyond last year's unpopular reforms and improve his centrist party's chances in the June EU ballot.

Opinion polls show Macron's camp trailing far-right leader Marine Le Pen's National Rally party by around eight to 10 percentage points.

French prime minister Gabriel Attal, walks out after the weekly cabinet meeting, at the Elysee Palace, in Paris, Wednesday. /Francois Mori/AP Photo

Who is Gabriel Attal?

One of the country's most popular politicians in recent opinion polls, Attal has made a name for himself as a savvy minister, on radio shows and in parliament.

The former education minister has served in many different roles, some of those being government spokesperson and public accounts minister.

Early in his career, Attal was a member of the Socialist party, but later joined Macron's centrist party, now known as Renaissance.

"Gabriel Attal is a bit like the Macron of 2017," said MP Patrick Vignal, referring to the point at which the President first took office as the youngest leader in modern French history, at the time a popular figure among voters.