While Emmanuel Macron has not yet appointed his new Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal visited the Jean de la Fontaine primary school in Issy-les-Moulineaux on Monday, September 2, to mark the start of the school year.
“Do you know who will be Prime Minister?” This is the question that the resigning Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal, could not escape, during his visit to the Jean de la Fontaine primary school in Issy-les-Moulineaux, in Hauts-de-Seine, on Monday, September 2.
After a brief burst of collective laughter, Gabriel Attal said “no, I don’t know” to the schoolchildren present. “It’s a real question that many French people ask themselves, but I don’t have the answer, since you know, in France, it’s the President of the Republic who chooses the Prime Minister,” he continued.
Although the tone of the exchange was intended to be light, the current head of government, accompanied by the resigning Minister Delegate for Democratic Renewal, Prisca Thévenot, was unable to avoid current political events.
Waiting for a Prime Minister
Like an experienced journalist, the CM2 pupil immediately re-launched the current resident at Matignon: “he (the President of the Republic) acts according to the legislative elections”. Enough to add another layer.
“That’s it, he takes into account the results of the elections, the situation in Parliament, many things, to choose his Prime Minister,” conceded Gabriel Attal.
Nearly a month and a half after the legislative elections, in which the New Popular Front (NFP) came out on top, Emmanuel Macron is still continuing his consultations to appoint a new Prime Minister.
Although he has ruled out the NFP candidate, Lucie Castets, at Matignon, the head of state received this Monday the former socialist Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve, the president of the Republicans of Hauts-de-France Xavier Bertrand, and the two former presidents of the Republic, François Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy.
“It’s going well”
Curious to know a little more about the behind the scenes of power, the schoolchildren did not hesitate to question Gabriel Attal about his relationship with Emmanuel Macron. “How is the president with you?”, asked one student.
“We have worked together a lot in recent years,” explained the resigning Prime Minister, recalling his career as government spokesperson, then Minister of National Education.
“We have real working relationships and respect, recognition, admiration. It’s going well!” assured Gabriel Attal.
An unsatisfactory answer for some students, which naturally led one of them to ask for more details: “Are you friends with the president?”, the schoolgirl wondered. “Yes, we have a close relationship, because I have been with him for a long time, even before he was president, I did his campaign, so of course, a close relationship,” Gabriel Attal continued, smiling.
In addition to the executives of his former majority, Emmanuel Macron plans to consult again this afternoon, by telephone or in person, the other political forces, BFMTV learned from people close to these consultations.
