Official says insults to France should end

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PARIS, Jan. 11 (UPI) -- A senior politician is pleading for an end to the insults France has endured since the government announced plans for a 75 percent tax rate on millionaires.

Corrine Lepage, a member of the European parliament and a former presidential candidate, demanded individuals from France and elsewhere stop treating France like "the scum of the earth" in an editorial in the French version of the Huffington Post, The Daily Telegraph reported.

The Daily Telegraph said the tax plan has top-earners leaving France, including actor Gerard Depardieu, who has moved to Belgium and taken Russian citizenship.

Lepage said Depardieu was welcome to move to Russia "and make a 'man-sandwich' with [President] Vladimir Putin."

Lepage said the anti-France comments are a stumbling block to the country's economic recovery.

"In France, free education and the low cost of living easily compensate for higher taxes," Lepage said. "And if you fall ill or have an accident, you're much better off being French than either British or American."