"As of today, he (Valls) does not fit the criteria that would allow the investiture committee to take him on," he told Europe 1.

"Our job is not to recycle," he said.

Mr Macron served as economy minister in a Socialist government under Mr Valls, but left to make his successful bid for president at the head of his own start-up party.

Enmity between the pair reportedly runs deep, as Mr Valls felt his cabinet colleague gazumped his attempts to rejuvenate French politics, bridge the Left-Right divide and run for president.

While Mr Macron's party does not have any members in the current parliament, he hopes to secure a majority in June to allow him to push through economic reforms to revive an economy beset by high unemployment and sluggish growth.