The French are popping fewer champagne corks and spending less on toys as higher taxes, a deteriorating economy and an exodus of national icons sap the country's joie de vivre .
"There is a moroseness, a sadness among the French population at the moment which has led to our compatriots drinking a little less champagne this year," says Paul-Franois Vranken, chairman and chief executive of Vranken Pommery Monopole, one of the country's best-known Reims-based houses.
"Champagne consumption follows the mood of the country. Today, there isn't a mood conducive to celebration."
The gloom has deepened in recent days after an undignified spat between the country's Socialist government and actor Grard Depardieu, who objected to President Franois Hollande's plan to increase the top tax rate to 75 per cent - the world's highest - on January 1.
The star of Oblix the Gaul and Cyrano de Bergerac said last week that he would hand in his passport after being "insulted" by Jean-Marc Ayrault, the French prime minister, who called his decision to abandon France for lower-tax Belgium "pathetic". Read more >>
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