Former French economy minister Emmanuel Macron is putting the final touches to a presidential campaign bid, which he will announce in the next few weeks, an aide told AFP on Tuesday.
"All the conditions are in place... (and Macron) will declare his candidacy before December 10," the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The move would end months of speculation over the 38-year-old former investment banker's intentions since he quit the Socialist government in August.
His campaign will step up a gear on Thursday with the publication of an interview in news weekly L'Obs and he will gradually unveil his policies over the next few weeks, the aide said.
He will formally declare his candidacy at a rally, probably in Paris, the aide said, without giving a date.
Macron, a business-friendly former protege of Socialist President Francois Hollande, will aim to exploit the deep divisions in the French left to make a run for the presidency.
Hollande, who has the lowest popularity ratings of any post-war president, is expected to decide by the end of the year whether to make a bid for re-election.
Macron has never held elected office but in April founded his own political movement, En Marche ("On the Move"), saying he wanted to promote "new ideas... neither of the right nor the left".
En Marche now has more than 90,000 members and has already received 2.8 million euros ($3.0 million) in donations.
Macron's straight-talking, anti-establishment flair has seen him attract many young, cosmopolitan supporters, and business figures but his appeal to the wider electorate is untested.
- 'Reconcile the 'two Frances' -
He told the Mediapart website recently he was aiming to "reconcile the France which sees globalisation and the huge transformations taking place as an opportunity with the other France which is scared of those things".
A poll Tuesday showed 49 percent of respondents had a favourable view of him.
The same aide who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity denied later that Macron had made his final decision, but his campaign appears to be accelerating.
The presidential election is currently forecast to end in a second-round runoff between a centre-right candidate who is still to be decided and the leader of the far-right National Front (FN), Marine Le Pen.
Former president Nicolas Sarkozy, a highly divisive figure, and Alain Juppe, an ex-prime minister who is more of a moderate, are expected to fight it out for the centre-right nomination in a primary of the Republicans party at the end of this month.
Macron is applauded by liberals for challenging the key planks of French socialism such as the 35-hour work week but die-hard leftists accuse him of being too cosy with big business.
His name is on the first of two economic reform packages that were forced through parliament without a vote under Hollande.
Both sparked angry street protests and created deep rancour in the Socialist Party.
The two-round presidential election will be held on April 23 and May 7, 2017.
Former French economy minister Emmanuel Macron is putting the final touches to a presidential campaign bid, which he will announce in the next few weeks, an aide told AFP on Tuesday.
“All the conditions are in place… (and Macron) will declare his candidacy before December 10,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The move would end months of speculation over the 38-year-old former investment banker’s intentions since he quit the Socialist government in August.
His campaign will step up a gear on Thursday with the publication of an interview in news weekly L’Obs and he will gradually unveil his policies over the next few weeks, the aide said.
He will formally declare his candidacy at a rally, probably in Paris, the aide said, without giving a date.
Macron, a business-friendly former protege of Socialist President Francois Hollande, will aim to exploit the deep divisions in the French left to make a run for the presidency.
Hollande, who has the lowest popularity ratings of any post-war president, is expected to decide by the end of the year whether to make a bid for re-election.
Macron has never held elected office but in April founded his own political movement, En Marche (“On the Move”), saying he wanted to promote “new ideas… neither of the right nor the left”.
En Marche now has more than 90,000 members and has already received 2.8 million euros ($3.0 million) in donations.
Macron’s straight-talking, anti-establishment flair has seen him attract many young, cosmopolitan supporters, and business figures but his appeal to the wider electorate is untested.
– ‘Reconcile the ‘two Frances’ –
He told the Mediapart website recently he was aiming to “reconcile the France which sees globalisation and the huge transformations taking place as an opportunity with the other France which is scared of those things”.
A poll Tuesday showed 49 percent of respondents had a favourable view of him.
The same aide who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity denied later that Macron had made his final decision, but his campaign appears to be accelerating.
The presidential election is currently forecast to end in a second-round runoff between a centre-right candidate who is still to be decided and the leader of the far-right National Front (FN), Marine Le Pen.
Former president Nicolas Sarkozy, a highly divisive figure, and Alain Juppe, an ex-prime minister who is more of a moderate, are expected to fight it out for the centre-right nomination in a primary of the Republicans party at the end of this month.
Macron is applauded by liberals for challenging the key planks of French socialism such as the 35-hour work week but die-hard leftists accuse him of being too cosy with big business.
His name is on the first of two economic reform packages that were forced through parliament without a vote under Hollande.
Both sparked angry street protests and created deep rancour in the Socialist Party.
The two-round presidential election will be held on April 23 and May 7, 2017.
