Rajoy has caused a diplomatic problem by declaring that France acts without French

For six years now, Mariano Rajoy has been immersed in the realm of the football chronicle, through El Debate, but so far it has not resonated, and this time it has caused a great stir in what the former president wrote in the run-up to the semi-final match between Spain and France.

Rajoy, who has been writing in El Debat since 2022 at the Euro and World Cup, has aroused a lot of criticism about the French team after writing , "They have top players, but no French players."

This assertion has been interpreted on both sides of the Pyrenees as a way of questioning the nationality of players in the French team because of their family or ethnic background.

Response from the French Government

Rajoy's words have prompted an immediate response from the French Government. The Minister of the Interior, Laurent Núñez, has described the statements as "absolutely unacceptable" and "absurd." He has argued that France is a "country of diversity" and warned that such messages fuel racism against footballers, especially Captain Kylian Mbappé.

This rejection has been shared by a large part of the French political spectrum, with socialist leaders and representatives of other parties stressing that French nationality does not depend on the origin of their parents or the colour of their skin, while media such as Libération have published very harsh editorials against the former Spanish president, bringing the controversy to international level.

Former French Prime Minister Manuel Valls, too, has strongly criticised Rajoy for saying, "It's not a joke, it's a confession, because what he doesn't see in that group is not nationalities, it's the colors of the skin, that is, he thinks that a black person can't be French, which is simply called racism."

Reactions in Spain

In Spain, too, the institutional response has been strong. The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has responded to Rajoy by calling for an inclusive view of national identity. It belongs to everyone who loves and cultivates Spain. Not to those who embarrass him with xenophobic statements.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albarés, also described the words of the former president as "painful" and "dangerous", both to the image of Spain and to the relationship with the neighbouring country.

The criticism has also spread beyond the political sphere, statements that the striker of the Spanish team, Borja Iglesias , has publicly rejected as inappropriate and has claimed diversity as a wealth. I am still surprised that he is dealing with issues like this.

The controversy has overshadowed for hours the run-up to the Spanish-French clash and led to an unexpected diplomatic crisis between two European partners on the eve of one of the most important World Cup matches, words that seem to have also served to motivate the French, whose semi-final will also be played on 14 July, National Day.

On the other hand, the former leader of the People's Party has received little support from members of his own party, but his words have been widely defended on social media, although most of the time through anonymous accounts.