French prime minister seeks to step out from Macron’s shadow in the upcoming early election

By JOHN LEICESTER
Associated Press

LE PECQ, France (AP) — France’s prime minister hopes to emerge from the campaign for the early legislative election not only still holding the job that President Emmanuel Macron gave him less than six months ago but also as more of his own person. The 35-year-old Gabriel Attal was France’s youngest-ever prime minister when Macron picked him in January. He now risks being dethroned by the even younger 28-year-old Jordan Bardella. The president of the far-right National Rally hopes the legislative election will mark a watershed in his party’s gradual climb from the fringes of French politics to being on the threshold of power. The crisis represented by the possibility that France could elect its first far-right government since its Nazi occupation could be something of an opportunity for Attal.