The French found out on Thursday evening that, under their new prime minister, nothing will change in the way their country is run. Gabriel Attal, the Boy Wonder who at 34 is the youngest premier of the Fifth Republic, unveiled his new cabinet – and there was a distinct lack of freshness. The controversial Gerald Darmanin remains as interior minister, despite the fact he has presided over unprecedented rises in crime and illegal immigration. Meanwhile, there is no change at the ministry of justice or the ministry of the economy.
The biggest talking points concern the new minister of culture, Rachida Dati, who served as minister of justice in Nicolas Sarkozy’s centre-right government between 2007 and 2009. In an interview in 2021, Dati was asked what she thought of Macronism. ‘It is an absence of ideology, of conviction,’ she replied. ‘A party of traitors from the left and traitors from the right, which is nothing without Emmanuel Macron.’
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