France responds to Rajoy's racist comment on the French team: "It is unacceptable"

BarcelonaSince the Football World Cup began, former Spanish President Mariano Rajoy has returned to his commentator persona and regularly publishes his opinion pieces in The Debate about the Spanish national team. Well, send audio messages and from The Debate transcribe them and give them shape. In the article published this Friday night, Mariano Rajoy valued the performance of the French team, Spain's next opponent in the World Cup. He highlighted their high level, but added a racist comment: "They also have a very high-level squad. That said, without Frenchmen." The French government has already censured the words of the former Spanish president and the Minister of the Interior, Laurent Nuñez, has described them as "absolutely unacceptable".

"If this statement is exactly like that, it is absolutely unacceptable. It does not reflect at all what France is," Nuñez stated in an interview with BFM TV when asked about the words of the former Spanish president. For Rajoy, for example, Kylian Mbappé, of Algerian mother and Cameroonian father but born in France, is not French. The French team only has three players who were not born in the country. The French minister, in this regard, defended that France is "a country of diversity, where everyone can develop and find their place" and regretted that these types of comments fuel racist attacks against the players of the French team, in particular against its captain, Kylian Mbappé.

The French embassy in Spain has also written a message to X to censor Rajoy's words: "All players of the French national team are French. Of the 26 players, 23 were born in France. The three who were born abroad are also French".

But the reactions have not only come from France, but also the Spanish president, Pedro Sánchez, has also lashed out at Rajoy's statement. "There are those who still measure belonging by surname, place of birth or skin color," he criticized, before adding: "Others measure it by their roots in a country and the will to contribute to it." The head of the Spanish executive has accused Rajoy of making "xenophobic statements" and, regarding the match that Spain and France will play on Tuesday, he concluded: "May the best win and may racism lose."

Several Spanish government ministers have also joined, including the Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, who called Rajoy's comment "hurtful and dangerous": "It is not Spain," he added on X. The PSOE, in a message on X, called the former president's words "shameful, racist and xenophobic": "They only foster hatred and represent a very worrying trend that the Spanish right is beginning to accept." For their part, Podem spokesperson Pablo Fernández stated: "This about the PP and their racism is absolutely infamous".

The "Red Devils"

Rajoy's text doesn't end here, because he also values Spain's match against Belgium this Friday. He recalls that the Belgians eliminated the Spanish team in the quarterfinals of the 1986 World Cup and that this year's match has served to return the ball to them. Rajoy assures that he is doubly glad. Why? 'Because I am Spanish and also because the Belgian players are known as the red devils and I don't like devils or reds – he states –, except for the exception that proves the general rule, which is the Spanish shirt,' he states. And at this point, he refers to the Spanish government: 'You just have to look back or, simply, see what is happening in our country today'.