Former Spanish PM accused of racism in remarks about French football team | Spain

Former Spanish conservative prime minister Mariano Rajoy faced mounting accusations of racism after writing in a World Cup newspaper column that there were “no French players” in the French national team.

Rajoy, who was in office from 2011 to 2018, discussed Spain’s upcoming semi-final match against France in an article he wrote for the online newspaper El Debate on Friday.

“It is worth remembering that France are two-time world champions and finalists in the last World Cup.” he wrote. “They have won all the matches they have played in this World Cup and are currently number 1 in the Fifa rankings. They also have a top squad. However, they do not have any French players. And they are playing very well. They will be a tough opponent.”

Rajoy’s remarks, which drew comparisons to a Paraguayan senator’s recent racist social media attack on Kylian Mbappé, sparked a harsh response from Spain’s current prime minister.

“There are still those who measure belonging by surname, place of birth, and skin color.” Pedro Sánchez wrote in a post on X:.

“Others measure it by our roots in a country and our desire to contribute to it. Playing football. Caring for our elders. Or starting a business. Spain belongs to those who love it and work for it. Not those who shame it with xenophobic statements.”

Rajoy’s remarks provoked an angry reaction in France.

“This is absolutely unacceptable,” French interior minister Laurent Nuñez told French broadcaster BFMTV on Sunday. “That’s certainly not what France is about. France is a country of diversity where everyone can flourish and find their place.”

Olivier Faure, leader of the French Socialist Party, said that the French national team consists only of French citizens.

“France is not an ethnic nation; it has no skin color or religion” added to a post on X. “This is a political nation united around the republican slogan, to the chagrin of the racist right.”

French Communist Party leader Fabien Roussel condemned Rajoy and said his remarks were reminiscent of the racist tirade of Paraguayan senator Celeste Amarilla, who called Mbappé “a colonized Cameroonian desperately trying to pass himself off as French.”

Roussel said: “They can’t stop being dirty racists to annoy our beautiful French team.”

Others saw a familiar pattern. “The same racist obsessions and insults resurface every time.” [France] “He wins,” he said. Naïma MoutchouMinister for Overseas Territories of France.

“These are not just ‘slips of the tongue’. It is a systematic and normalized hatred of France and what it represents.”

Moutchou called on the French football federation, which filed a complaint with Paris prosecutors over Amarilla’s words, to “pursue all legal means”.

Sánchez ended his post about X with a sincere wish: “France, see you in the semi-finals. May the best team win, racism may lose.”