French President Emmanuel Macron has appointed party colleague Gabriel Attal as the new Prime Minister of France. The Élysée has that announced on Tuesday. At the age of 34, the former Minister of Education is considered the youngest head of government in French history — and the first openly gay. Attal, who has already been renamed the “new Macron” by the AFP news agency, succeeds Elisabeth Borne, who was forced to resign on Monday.
Macron hopes with the change of power and the so-called “reshuffle of the government” to give new impetus to his government, which is under pressure for various reasons. In a statement Tuesday the French president says that he is counting on Attal’s “energy” to fulfill that task with “conviction and courage”.
Last year, Attal, as education minister, banned the wearing of the abaya in public schools in France. The abaya, a garment that covers the entire body except for the head, is seen by critics of the ban as a cultural and not a religious expression. But according to Attal, the garment would have a “destabilizing” effect and would be important for France laïcité serious “testing.” The ban is part of a series of rules that mainly affects the French Muslim community.
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The abaya is about the intention of the wearer