Gabriel Attal dons his new clothes at full speed

“One trip per day,” promised Matignon. The young Prime Minister wasted no time in adopting a method inspired by that of former Prime Minister Jean Castex: going into the field.

He also paid tribute during his handover of power with Elisabeth Borne to this predecessor, with whom he was Secretary of State for Youth then government spokesperson from 2020 to 2022.

As soon as the handover was completed on Tuesday, Gabriel Attal went to the victims of the floods in Pas-de-Calais, assuring them that the State would “not forget them”. The next day, he spoke to Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin to debunk rumors of rivalry, but also to reiterate that security is "an absolutely priority objective" for him.

“Protect the President”

Contacting the French allows us not to remain a prisoner of the "hell" of Matignon and the many problems that need to be resolved, underlines Mayada Boulos, a close friend who directed Jean Castex's communications.

Travel, "it gets people talking, we control the agenda and all the cameras are for you. But if you do that all the time, you trivialize your words. And when the process wears out, the interlocutors are less and less benevolent", analyzes political communication specialist Christian Delporte.

Vis-à-vis the Elysée, “it helps protect the president. Because when we go on the ground, we are within shouting range,” adds Mr. Delporte. And perhaps to establish a sharing of roles: a president who would speak more rarely and a Prime Minister who speaks a lot.

Starting this Thursday, Gabriel Attal will also receive the country's key players, namely each of the unions, employers' organizations and elected officials' organizations.

Before having lunch on Friday with the heads of the parliamentary groups of the majority, while the new tenant of Matignon will have to maneuver like his predecessor with a relative majority in the Assembly.

After the painful adoption of two major laws for the presidential camp on pensions and immigration, his entourage promises a "more robust dialogue" with parliamentarians.

"Power rangers"

These meetings are a sign of a “very rapid start to work” by the government, argues a source within the executive.

Frequently making contact is reminiscent of a method used by Emmanuel Macron, to whom the new head of government “owes everything”.

Gabriel Attal is committed to having a solution for each problem, as he said upon arriving at Matignon: "to make clear diagnoses without ever lying to the French and to put in place strong, concrete actions, without taboos".

The one who is presented as the heir of the Head of State intends to make his mark and comes to rue de Varenne with his followers, whom he calls his "power rangers".

He takes with him Fanny Anor, appointed deputy chief of staff. This normalienne, history graduate, who worked at the liberal Institut Montaigne, was his chief of staff at National Education.

A sign of her importance within the cabinet, during the transfer of power, she was on the steps at the same height of steps as Ms. Borne's outgoing chief of staff, Jean-Denis Combrexelle.

She will form "a pair" with Emmanuel Moulin, the current director of the Treasury appreciated by the Elysée, who becomes Gabriel Attal's right-hand man at Matignon.

The new Prime Minister also took with him a loyalist as chief of staff and special advisor. Maxime Cordier has known him since his years at Sciences Po, where he headed the UMP section when Gabriel Attal was a member of the Socialist Party. He advises him from the spokesperson on political strategy and writes his important speeches.

Antoine Lesueur should be in charge of elected officials in the cabinet, a position he already held with Gabriel Attal in education. He has followed him since 2018. Chief of staff for the Universal National Service, he was also his parliamentary advisor to the spokesperson.

Louis Jublin has been at his side for communications since 2018, after working for the UMP group in the Assembly.