On January 12, 2024, news portal Pia.ge, as well as the conservative portal “Georgia First” (1;2;3) and its founder Vato Shakarishvili reported that the newly appointed Prime Minister of France appointed his partner as the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The same information was spread during January 13-14 by other Georgian-speaking Facebook accounts as well (1, 2).
Update: The information was disseminated by the Russian media as well (1;2;3), including, Ria Novosti and Russian-language Facebook accounts (1;2)
The information about the appointment of the French Foreign Minister is being disseminated in a manipulative manner, emitting the detail that Gabriel Attal and Stéphane Séjourné were partners in the past, and have since separated.
On January 11, 2024, it was reported that Stéphane Séjourné will take over the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs of France. The Ministers of Internal Affairs, Finance, Defense, and Justice remained in office, and the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Catherine Colonna, was replaced by 38-year-old Séjourné. Stephane Sejournay is the head of French President Emmanuel Macron’s party.
Stéphane Séjourné is the former partner of Gabriel Attal. Attal is France’s youngest and first openly gay prime minister. Their relationship became known in 2018 – Attal himself made the relationship public after he joined Emmanuel Macron’s party.
Attal and Séjourné have never publicly confirmed the information about their separation. However, according to the Associated Press, in 2023, Attal filed a declaration to the High Authority for Transparency in Public Life, which compiles declarations by high-ranking officials to record potential conflicts of interest, Attal declared having no partner. In addition, as local media Le Figaro writes, Séjourné and Attal separated 2 years ago. Another local media – 20 Minutes – confirms the information about the breakup. According to France 24 and TV 25 MONDE, the couple was in a civil partnership in the past “for a certain period of time”. Pia.ge also relies on the information of France 24; however, unlike the French media, it does not indicate that Attal and Séjourné were partners in the past and refers to the new foreign minister as the Prime Minister’s “gay partner.”
Despite the fact that the new Prime Minister of France and the Minister of Foreign Affairs are no longer partners, “Georgia First” and Vato Shakarishvili spread the information without referencing the mentioned important detail, which creates the impression that Attal appointed his current partner to the post. Nothing is said about separation even in the article published on the website of “Georgia First.”
About the Sources
Georgia First NEWS is the Facebook page of the portal “Georgia First,” which was founded by the former member of the “Georgian Dream” party, Vato Shakarishvili. The portal often publishes anti-Western content aimed at criticizing EU institutions, NATO, and the US presidential administration. The portal has disseminated false and manipulative claims in the past as well.
The anonymous Facebook account Geo Famaly has disseminated false information in the past as well.
Archive links (1;2;3;4;5;6;7;8,9,10,11)
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