Spain ex-PM draws criticism with 'xenophobic' remark on French team

Spain's conservative ex-prime minister Mariano Rajoy faced criticism at home and in France Sunday after saying the neighbouring country's national football team had "no French players".

The comment, published in an opinion piece in Spanish online news site El Debate, came as Spain prepares to face France Tuesday in a blockbuster World Cup semi-final.

Spain's current Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez condemned the remark as "xenophobic".

"There are those who still measure belonging by surname, place of birth, or skin colour. Others measure it by our roots in a country and our will to contribute to it," the Socialist leader wrote on X.

"Spain belongs to those who love it and work for it. Not to those who shame it with xenophobic statements."

Transport Minister Oscar Puente dismissed Rajoy as a "post-Franco idiot".

French politicians have also lashed out at Rajoy's comment.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez told French channel BFMTV that Rajoy's comment was "absolutely unacceptable".

Communist party leader Fabien Roussel compared Rajoy's comment to widely criticised remarks by Paraguayan Senator Celeste Amarilla, who said after Paraguay's elimination by France in the round of 16 that star player Kylian Mbappe was a "colonised Cameroonian who has really pretended to be French".

"They just can't stop themselves from slinging this disgusting racism," said Roussel.

Aurore Berge, minister against discrimination, also denounced the "repeated racist outbursts". 

She added: "It's time they stopped and that sport becomes sport again: a place where you are judged on your talent and by no other criteria."

- 'Racist obsessions' -

Naima Moutchou, France's minister for overseas territories, called the comments evidence of "systematic and widespread hatred of France and what the nation is".

"Every time Les Bleus win, the same racist obsessions and insults re-emerge," she said.

France "has no skin colour or religion", said French Socialist party leader Olivier Faure on X.

France's embassy in Madrid also responded in a post to social media.

"All the players of the French team are French. Of 26 players, 23 were born in France. The three who were born abroad are also French."

And Philippe Diallo, president of the French Football Federation said Rajoy's comments carried an "intolerable undertone of racism", in a post on social media.

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© Agence France-Presse