Spain’s former Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has been accused of racism by several leading French politicians after saying the France national team “does not have any French players.”
Rajoy, who served as the leader of the country’s government between 2011 and 2018, made the comment in a column for Spanish outlet El Debate previewing Tuesday’s World Cup semi-final between the two nations.
“They are currently ranked number one in the FIFA rankings. They also have a top-level squad. That said, they don’t have any French players, and they are playing very well,” he wrote on July 10.
On Sunday, France’s interior minister Laurent Nunez said the comments from Rajoy were “absolutely unacceptable.” When the 71-year-old’s quote was relayed to Nunez on BFM TV in France, he condemned the words, adding: “That’s not what France is at all. France is a country of diversity where everyone can flourish and find their place.”
Olivier Faure, the leader of France’s Socialist Party, responded to Rajoy’s column on social media : “The French team consists only of French people. France is not an ethnic nation; it has no skin color or religion. It is a political nation united around the republican motto. Much to the dismay of the racist right.”
Naima Moutchou, the minister of the overseas for France’s territories, also posted criticism of Rajoy’s words: “After each France victory, the same obsessions and racist insults resurface. These are not slips. This is a methodical and normalized hatred of France and what it is.”
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Moutchou also called on the France Football Federation (FFF) to take legal action over the comments.
Rajoy’s comments have also drawn criticism within Spain. The nation’s minister for transport, Oscar Puente, described Rajoy as a “post-Francoist idiot” and questioned his credentials as a “moderate” .
Also on Sunday, the French embassy in Madrid wrote: “Without wanting to get into a controversy, it is worth recalling the facts: all the players on the French national team are French. Of the 26 players, 23 were born in France. The three who were born abroad are French too.”
French newspaper Le Monde published an editorial in which they described Rajoy’s comments as “racist.” Le Monde added: “Since the start of the tournament, the French national team has been the target of several racist attacks.”
Earlier this week, the Paraguayan Senate passed a motion condemning “the discriminatory and racist expressions” of senator Celeste Amarilla against France captain Kylian Mbappe.
The 61-year-old lawyer had called the France striker a “colonized Cameroonian” following the World Cup last-16 match between the two nations on July 4.
She had previously criticized Mbappe on social media, quoting a post of the striker celebrating in front of Paraguay goalkeeper Orlando Gill: “That brute never even learned to write. Instead of breast milk, he sucked on coconuts, and the most educated creatures he ever listened to were chimpanzees.”
Mbappe said Amarilla’s remarks were “despicable” and “racist”.
