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WORLD

Gérard Depardieu to return French passport

17.12.2012 [15:59]
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Baku, December 17 (AZERTAC). Gérard Depardieu has declared that he will return his French passport and leave his homeland, in an exasperated letter where he fired back at the French government`s criticism of his decision to move to Belgium.

The French actor whose eccentric personality has come to symbolise a certain, old fashioned form of Gallic love for good food and the pleasures in life, also known as a "bon vivant," said he is finished with the country, in a letter published in the Journal du Dimanche.

It is addressed to Jean-Marc Ayrault, the French prime minister, who called Depardieu "pathetic" for wanting to move just over the French border to the wealthy Belgian town of Néchin, where he will evade the current Left-leaning government`s tax hikes.

"I am handing over to you my passport and social security, which I have never used," he said. "We no longer have the same homeland, I am a true European, a citizen of the world, as my father always taught me to believe."

He concludes: "Despite my excesses, my appetite and love for life, I am a free being, Sir, and will remain polite."

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