Afflelou: France is anti-business

OPTICIAN founder Alain Afflelou has become the latest high-profile French figure to announce he is fleeing the country - and will be settling in London instead.

Afflelou, who runs an international chain of opticians, likened anti-business sentiment to the French revolution, telling RTL: "We are going back to 1789, we need to stop saying that business leaders are thugs, thieves and dishonest people."

He said France's tax system was "unjust" and said the government was engaged in "trench warfare" towards businesspeople.

His decision to leave France comes after Gérard Depardieu announced he was moving to Belgium in protest against the Socialist government's tax policies, including a headline 75% income tax rate for high earners.

A recent poll by the American Chamber of Commerce in Paris found that only 22% of the heads of the US companies in France see the country as an attractive place to do business, down from 56% last year.