PROFILE Controversial former economics minister Macron bows out - for now

Paris (dpa) - Emmanuel Macron announced Tuesday that he was resigning from his French government post as economics minister after two years battling to modernize the French labour market to be more business-friendly.He was a protege of French President Francois Hollande who offered him the economics, industry and digital affairs portfolio in 2014.He has since courted controversy, most notably over his attempts to reform the labour market to become more business-friendly which have led to mass street protests.He has also faced opposition from inside the ruling Socialist party, many of whom find his ideas to be too right-wing. In 2015, the government had to use a special rule to force Macron‘s liberalization law through parliament when it failed to pass by majority vote.In a review of his two years in office in Les Echos newspaper last week, he was defiant about his reforms. "I will give up nothing," he said."I have fought every instant. And it is not finished," he said.According to Macron‘s official biography on the French government website, he was born on December 21, 1977, in the northern city of Amiens in the Somme region of Picardy.Macron obtained his first degree from the elite Institutes of Political Studies in Paris and a master‘s in philosophy from the equally prestigious Paris X Nanterre, or Paris West University Nanterre La Defense.He went on to study public administration at the Ecole Nationale d‘Administration (ENA) graduate school, which prepares for careers in the higher echelons of the French civil service.He worked at the Economics Ministry as an inspector between 2004 and 2008, after which he left to pursue a career at the investment bank, Rothschild & Cie, before being invited back into politics.He is no longer a member of the Socialist party and launched his own political movement in April called "En Marche!" or "Forward!" which he describes as "neither right-wing nor left-wing."Observers have speculated that the formation of En Marche was a precursor to launching a presidential bid in next year‘s elections, but Macron has so far said he has no interest in moving into the Elysee Palace.