A fierce political debate has erupted over a column by former Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, with French ministers and top political leaders condemning comments about the nationality and ethnic identity of France’s football team players as “disgusting racism” and “hateful”.
Ahead of the high-voltage match between France and Spain in the upcoming World Cup semi-final, former Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy of the conservative People’s Party wrote a column in the Spanish newspaper El Debate. While analyzing the French team, he commented that Les Bleus’ squad is “very high quality.”
But yes, without any French players.’
As soon as his comments became public, a fire of anger flared up in the French political arena.
Olivier Faure, leader of the French Socialist Party, responded on social media X-A (formerly Twitter), writing, “France is not just a country of a certain ethnicity, it has no specific skin color or religion. It is a political state built on republican values.”
“No matter how much the racist right wing may hate it, this is the truth.”
Fabien Roussell, leader of the French Communist Party, launched a fierce attack, saying, “Yesterday a senator from Paraguay, and today a former head of government in Spain; they could not help but reveal their innermost hatred of racism to corner our great French party.”