In Macronie, it is the man who is rising in power: Gabriel Attal, Minister Delegate for Public Accounts. On the front line on the pension file, both in the National Assembly and in the media, this ambitious 33-year-old leaves nothing to chance and multiplies his interventions on all fronts. In the hemicycle, his speech on February 6, in which he portrayed the leftist opposition in “taxation party”was noticed by many walkers in lack of leadership.
On twitter, several accounts, including some inherited from the “response team” from previous election campaigns, had a blast supporting the young minister. “In this ambient mediocrity, we are lucky to have such talent! », tweets Léa. A few days earlier, still on twitter, Dorelle had fun spinning the comparison with a certain Emmanuel Macron: « Gabriel Attal : will be 39 in 5 years =) Like a certain Emmanuel Macron. He is budget minister =) Like a certain EM He is one of the president’s favorite ministers =) like a certain EM”. For his part, the former journalist Thierry de Cabarrus salutes the “government sniper”while his “colleague” Jérôme Godefroy raves: “The star of this painful debate will remain @GabrielAttal”.
The “star” Attal, presidential?
After the “debate” in the Assembly on pensions, the “star” Attal continued this week on the file of tax evasion before flying to the United States until the beginning of March. No sooner had he arrived than he appeared on a political talk show on MSNBC about the war in Ukraine. On the set, “Gaby” is comfortable, declaiming an English fluent way Sciences Po to decipher the policy of Europeans vis-à-vis Volodymyr Zelensky. We are a long way from the budgetary questions that the Minister is supposed to address… Also on the program of this North American visit to Washington and New York: meeting with think tanks and other opinion leaders. In short, Gabriel Attal “networks” thoroughly and tries to gain depth. Because, according to several sources, his future ambitions are important: “He wants to win the town hall of Paris in 2026 and even dreams of repeating Emmanuel Macron’s feat, that is to say entering the Elysée around his forties”breathes a confidant of the first Elysian circle.
Gabriel Attal, presidential? “From 2027 or for 2032? », wonders a government adviser. In Macronie, his name is turning in any case more and more among the possible future candidates. To the point that Emmanuel Macron himself takes umbrage: “the president is beginning to be irritated by the activism of his young minister”, gun down a faithful among the faithful. Result, in 20 minutes this week which devotes an article to him, Gabriel Attal tries to reaffirm his loyalty to the president: “I am not preparing a campaign, no candidacy”thus assures the one who « [s’]forbidden to [se] ask the question “.
Still, within the macronie, more and more of them are thinking of him for the future. Thus, in the National Assembly, the young minister has a powerful ally in the person of Aurore Bergé, the boss of the Renaissance group. Between these two, “The Underwoods of the Bourbon Palace”as a former macronist calls them, the proximity has never been denied: “Between them, they are called ‘little brother’ and ‘little sister'”add my source. Aurore Bergé votes Gabriel Attal, but also Sylvain Maillard, vice-president of the Renaissance group. Others also look favorably on the recent career of the Minister Delegate for Public Accounts, such as Sacha Houlié, chairman of the law commission and co-founder of “Young people with Macron”, when he had clashed harshly to him during the first five-year term (the two ambitious then had views on the presidency of the group in the Assembly).
We have already written, but in the presidential entourage, this little music that rises around Gabriel Attal is not necessarily to everyone’s taste. Some who hope for the return of Emmanuel Macron as early as 2032 for a third term fear that Gabriel will succeed in “kill the father”. Among these most faithful and loyal, it is out of the question to turn the page so quickly, it is taboo to evoke the political end of Emmanuel Macron after this second five-year term. Behind the scenes, former Elysian advisers Jonathan Guémas and Clément Léonarduzzi, back at Publicis, continue to support the president. For this category of macronists, no one can really replace their “disruptive” champion of 2017. At the Elysée, however, others are seduced and tempted by the energy of the Minister Delegate for Public Accounts: “He is very good Gabriel! » exclaims a very close friend of Brigitte Macron.
It is that Gabriel Attal takes advantage of the rise of criticism in the macronie with regard to Alexis Kohler, the irremovable secretary general of the Elysée. Thus, Yaël Braun-Pivet, the president of the National Assembly, has still not digested not having been supported by “Château” in her conquest of the perch, and could be tempted by Gabriel Attal, as the analysis “Jacques Sisteron”, this former member of the 2017 campaign team: “Certainly, she also has personal ambitions for the future (this is how her adviser Xavier Chinaud, a former Matignon, takes care of finding points of departure for the deputies of the first five-year term defeated in June), but she has a common point with Aurore Bergé, also elected from Yvelines: both were not desired in their position by the Elysée and that can create acquaintances of circumstance which Gabriel could benefit from”.
Especially since at the Elysée, Alexis Kohler chose Édouard Philippe for the rest of the events. The mayor of Le Havre, who has made his media comeback in recent days, was also the first last October to publish a message of support for the secretary general of the Élysée when the latter’s indictment was made public. for “illegal taking of interest” in the MSC file. The two men appreciate and know each other for a long time, well before Emmanuel Macron (Alexis Kohler was representative of the State on the board of directors of the port of Le Havre).
These two “technos”, perfect representatives of the technostructure, like to remember the beginnings of the first five-year term. At the time, their views were often similar, and they found themselves agreeing on many issues, accompanied then by the secretary general of the government at the time, Marc Guillaume, and the director of cabinet of Matignon at the time. , Benoit Ribadeau-Dumas. This “gang of four” then used to calm the ardor of the impetuous Mr. Macron. However, their undivided power has attracted many enemies to them both in macronie and in Petit Paris. “It’s unfair for Édouard Philippe, he was handsome, tall, he had the look of a statesman, but now, with his illness which results in hair loss, we will see him stunted. Politically, it will be fatal to him, he will never be president.pings an evening adviser to Emmanuel Macron.
Inevitably, in our world of show politics and appearances, the youth, the face of an angel and the eloquence of Gabriel Attal are perhaps his best cards. Unless the French do not allow themselves to be seduced a second time so easily by another young first and prefer a grandpa Joe Biden to him for the next few years.
Marc Endeweld.