French Economy Minister Steps Down to Run for President

French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron resigned Tuesday, clearing the way for him to challenge his mentor, President François Hollande, in the 2017 presidential elections. Mr. Macron tendered his resignation during a meeting with Mr. Hollande in the Élysée Palace, the president’s office said, allowing the 38-year-old to “dedicate himself entirely to his political movement.”

Finance Minister Michel Sapin will take control of the Economy Ministry in addition to his current duties, Mr. Hollande’s office said. The move sets the stage for Mr. Macron to enter a crowded field of presidential contenders, complicating Mr. Hollande’s own bid for re-election.

Mr. Macron, a former investment banker, was a rare pro-business voice in the Hollande government, and his resignation tarnishes Mr. Hollande’s standing with the moderate wing of the Socialist Party.

Mr. Macron is hold a news conference later Tuesday, his spokeswoman said.

Although Mr. Macron had not officially declared he will run for president, he had laid the groundwork for a candidacy by creating a centrist political movement called En Marche, or “On the Move.” It draws supporters from Mr. Hollande as well as former President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is running in the center-right primaries.

Free from the constraints of ministerial duties, Mr. Macron will have the latitude to outflank Mr. Hollande in calling for tougher economic changes than the Socialist Party’s rank-and-file is willing to support.

Once close personal allies, Mr. Hollande and Mr. Macron grew apart as the economy minister cultivated his own political ambitions.

Mr. Macron served as campaign adviser to Mr. Hollande in 2012 and then as a senior economic adviser based at the presidential palace. In 2014, Mr. Hollande thrust Mr. Macron into the public spotlight by appointing him as minister with a mission to conduct a root-and-branch overhaul of rigid laws holding back economic growth.

Mr. Macron delivered changes to laws in a raft of sectors, liberalizing bus transport and allowing more shops to open on Sundays. But the overhaul fell short of some of Mr. Macron’s ambitions to loosen labor laws, felled by a fierce parliamentary battle with leftists in Mr. Hollande’s majority.

Since the start of 2016, Mr. Macron has stepped up his criticism of the president, saying another attempt to overhaul labor laws this year still does not go far enough.

Wsj.com