Tepid reaction to French economy minister's "On the move" plan

French politicians, business leaders, and voters alike were wondering what to make of a new politicial movement, a day after it was launched by the country's economy minister. Emmanuel Macron launched "En Marche" ("On the Move") on Wednesday, a year ahead of the country's next presidential and parliamentary elections, to promote "new ideas" that he said were neither "of the right nor left". 

French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron Reuters/Charles Platiau/file

On Wednesday Macron, a 38-year-old former banker who was brought into the Socialist government in 2014 to try to turn around the ailing French economy, said his new "On the move" movement wasn't a political campaign but an attempt to spur debate on how to tackle "blockages" in French society. Macron said his goal was to win over a majority of French people to "new ideas for the country" that could be implemented in the future.

"That's the only ambition one should have," said Macron. "It's radical, it seems a bit crazy talking about it tonight, but there is such energy in the country!"

Among the initial reaction on Thursday, leftist politician and presidential candidate Jean-Luc Melanchon said, "Already it makes me laugh, because the very people who broke down the system are now the ones who've launched a thing to make it 'run' again."

Criticism also came swiftly from the far-right National Front, which accused Macron of trying to join the country's centre-left and centre-right.

Over the past year and a half, Macron has become the face of the centrist shift of President Francois Hollande's government. The minister, who is not a card-carrying member of the Socialist Party, said his movement would be open to members of all "republican" parties - a label often used to exclude the National Front.

Speaking to French television channel France 2 on Thursday, former French prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, of the centre-right Republicans party (LR), suggested Macron's movement was half-baked, calling it a bit "virtual" at present and saying that Macron still needed to "prove himself".

For his part, Pierre Gattaz, president of France's largest entrepreneur network known as Medef, said on Thursday that he found Macron's new initiative "refreshing" and that he himself had had the same idea for years.

"It allows us to get away from the politics of politics," he said.