“If at 50 you don’t have a Rolex, you’ve missed your life,” Jacques Séguéla said in 2009. Since January 9 and his arrival at Matignon, Gabriel Attal has perhaps launched a new adage: if at 34 you are not Prime Minister, have you missed your life? The question is enough to make an entire generation of politicians dizzy. “There may be a phenomenon of downgrading for the generation of Bruno Le Maire or Edouard Philippe”, who may “find themselves in danger”, analysis for 20 minutes the historian Jean Garrigues, author of Happy days, when the French dreamed together (Payot).
But let’s reverse the question a little to go further: is being Prime Minister so young a success in life? And more generally, since there is not room for everyone at Matignon, what does “success in life” mean? “I am always embarrassed by the idea of success or failure in life, because these notions only consider the result of the action, and not the very fact of acting,” replies the associate professor and doctor of philosophy. Laurence Devillairs. Also, the normalienne is now wondering about “the value of her action” at Matignon. In other words, to speak like political leaders, we can only judge Gabriel Attal’s success in light of his record.
The Prime Minister benefits in any case from an “effect of youthism which is found throughout society” and quite widely on the benches of the Assembly, from Jordan Bardella to Louis Boyard, believes Jean Garrigues. A “cultural effect not completely new”, he tempers: “the men of the Revolution are in their thirties, Mitterand became minister at just 30, and Laurent Fabius was 37” when he joined Matignon. Added to this is “a start-up nation culture of succeeding very quickly,” adds philosopher Marianne Mercier.
Ethics and happiness before career?
Before him, Emmanuel Macron had already become the youngest President of the Republic, at only 39 years old. Two “dazzling journeys”, underlines Laurence Devillairs, which the media contribute to constructing with the same qualifiers, and which “highlight a personal destiny”. The philosopher prefers to focus on “moral action” and “political courage” as well as “dignity”. “Will I be able to teach respect for each other in the Republic school? “, she takes as an example. “For the moment, Gabriel Attal has achieved nothing except on a personal level,” she continues. “From an ethical point of view, a successful life serves a collective purpose and does not only respond to individual interests,” says Marianne Mercier.
Not all young people share the same idea of success as Gabriel Attal. Last year, our #MoiJeune unit looked at how confinement had changed the aspirations of 18-30 year olds. As a result, “we are far from the youth of 1980 who thought about money and a career,” summarized Katja Tochtermann, marketing and studies director of 20 minutes. “The quality of a life is estimated by the quality of the emotions that we have felt,” quotes our reader Thibault, barely older than the Prime Minister and who responded to our call for testimonies. Just as poetic, Claire believes that succeeding in life means “being gifted for happiness when it simply means loving life”.
In short, our readers are light years away from the pragmatism and ambition of Gabriel Attal. “Career is important in our society”, but “succeeding in life as is socially expected is not the same thing as being happy”, teaches Marianne Mercier. She continues by evoking Spinoza: “Happiness is a distant horizon, but in this quest for happiness I can cultivate small moments of joy” and accumulate them. “Succeeding in life is very subjective, you never succeed definitively,” also reflects our reader Philippe, who sees life as “a permanent challenge.” Like happiness, could Gabriel Attal’s success not be, as Marianne Mercier points out, “a match that ignites and goes out very quickly”?