Former Spanish PM's racist comments about French team spark backlash

Former Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has ignited a backlash with racist comments targeting the French men's football team, published in the Spanish daily El Debate. Rajoy, who led the Spanish government from 2011 to 2018, described the French team as a "very high-level squad. Of course, without Frenchmen," an allusion to the African heritage of some players.

His remarks drew sharp criticism from political figures in both France and Spain. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez posted on X that "there are those who still measure belonging by surname, place of birth, or skin colour," contrasting it with those who measure it by "roots in a country and our will to contribute to it." France's Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez told BFMTV the comments were "completely unacceptable" and "completely not what France is about," emphasizing France as a country of diversity.

Olivier Faure, the leader of the French Socialist party, stated that France is a political nation united around republican values, not ethnicity, skin color, or religion. Fabien Roussel, the leader of the French Communist party, condemned Rajoy's words as "blatant racism" and reminiscent of a Paraguayan senator's recent attack on Kylian Mbappé. Naïma Moutchou, France’s minister for overseas territories, observed a "methodical and normalised hatred of France" resurfacing with these comments.