The 34-year-old education minister has been one of Emmanuel Macron's most loyal supporters.

French President Emmanuel Macron has named the 34-year-old Gabriel Attal as France's new prime minister on Tuesday. 

Attal, who has replaced Elisabeth Borne, becomes France's youngest and first openly gay PM.

The move comes as Macron seeks a fresh start for the rest of his term amid growing political pressure from the far right.

Attal rose to prominence as the government spokesman and education minister.

His predecessor Borne resigned Monday following recent political turmoil over a controversial new immigration law, which some claimed showed Macron was giving in to the far-right. 

Borne, who was appointed in May 2022 as the second woman to cover that role, made clear in her resignation letter that she did not wish to leave her position but Macron had decided to replace her.

Macron, a 46-year-old centrist whose term ends in 2027, is to name a government in the coming days. 

Confirming the nomination of Attal on X, formerly Twitter, the French president wrote: "Dear @GabrielAttal, I know I can count on your energy and your commitment to implement the rearmament and regeneration project that I announced." 

He added: "In fidelity to the spirit of 2017: surpassing and audacity. In the service of the Nation and the French."

Patrick Vignal of Macron's Renaissance party said that he welcomed the nomination of "the youngest Prime Minister of the 5th Republic!", adding that the French president is known to "unearth talent."

In response to recent criticism from the opposition, Vignal wrote on X that "the bench and the back bench" of Macron's team "are very well stocked, because we had other very serious and competent candidates." 

Attal was born on 16 March 1989 in Clamart, a 40-minute drive away from the centre of Paris. According to information provided by the French government, he studied at Sciences Po in the French capital between 2007 and 2013 and has since then served in a variety of roles, including government spokesperson and public accounts minister.

once a member of the Socialist Party, Attal later joined Macron's Renaissance party.

Prime ministers play an important role in France under the country's constitution and are the second-highest figure after that of the president. They're directly accountable to Parliament and control the French government day to day.