How old were the previous Prime Ministers when they were appointed?

After youth, experience? 51 days after the resignation of Gabriel Attal’s government, Emmanuel Macron has finally appointed Michel Barnier as Prime Minister. The former Minister of Foreign Affairs must now form a government, in an explosive political context.

At 73, the man who was the European Union’s negotiator at the time of Brexit has become the oldest Prime Minister of the Fifth Republic, as shown in the infographic below.

The LR succeeds Gabriel Attal, who at 34 was the youngest Prime Minister, which was an exception in a Fifth Republic more accustomed to seeing fifty- and sixty-year-olds in this position. In the game of the oldest heads of government, Michel Barnier is now ahead of Pierre Bérégovoy (66 years old) and Edouard Balladur (63 years old).

Among the youngest Prime Ministers, Gabriel Attal therefore dominates the ranking, ahead of Laurent Fabius, aged 37 when he was appointed Prime Minister by François Mitterrand in 1984, and Jacques Chirac, appointed at 41 by Valéry Giscard d’Estaing in May 1974.

It remains to be seen whether experience will be combined with longevity, with Michel Barnier facing a very high risk of censure in a fragmented National Assembly.