Two weeks after he launched a new political “movement”, France’s whizz-kid economy minister Emmanuel Macron is on the move in the opinion polls, reports The Independent.
Mr Macron – only 38 and never a political candidate at any level – is seen by almost four in ten French voters as an attractive candidate for the presidency next year.
Even more strikingly, a man who claims to be “neither left nor right”, is now the most popular candidate next spring among left-wing voters.
Mr Macron’s popularity and refusal to toe the admittedly unclear ideological and tactical lines of the present centre-left government are also making him powerful enemies. According to reports in the French media, his mentor, President François Hollande, is coming under pressure to cage Mr Macron – or even fire him.
The President was said initially to be relaxed about his young minister’s announcement on 6 April that he was launching a new “movement” called “En Marche!” (forwards) to explore new ideas and new ground beyond the traditional left-right divide. Mr Hollande was said to believe that the initiative could even help attract centrist voters and improve his own feeble chances of winning a second term next April and May.
Senior figures close to Mr Hollande are now said to fear that Mr Macron, who was only appointed economy minister in August 2014, is out of all control of the Elysée Palace and is driven only by his own ambition. In a television appearance last week, President Hollande sent two verbal shots across Mr Macron’s bows.