About twenty MEPs from different countries and political groups have signed a letter in which they express their support for France, its citizens, and its national football team, and in which they condemn the "racist" statements of former Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, who wrote in an opinion column that the French team is a team of "very high level, yes, but without Frenchmen".
The text is signed by 23 MEPs belonging to various groups in the European Parliament --including socialists, Greens, Renew liberals, and The Left-- and from countries such as France, Spain, Belgium, Italy, Slovenia, and Denmark. Among the Spanish representatives are Estrella Galán (Sumar), Hana Jalloul (PSOE), Irene Montero and Isabel Serra (Podemos), Jaume Asens (En Comú), Diana Riba (ERC), and Vicent Marzá (Compromís), in addition to the BNG MEP Ana Miranda, who initiated the initiative.
In the letter, the MEPs argue that Rajoy's statements are not only "unfortunate" but constitute "pure racism" and fit into a xenophobic narrative that links citizenship and nationality with ethnicity or race, implying that a person's family origin or skin color condition their real belonging to a country.
According to the signatories, this approach "reproduces one of the pillars of contemporary racism," which consists of "denying full citizenship and national identity" to certain people because of their physical features or origins. They also deplore that the French citizenship of the footballers of their national team is being questioned, given that "they represent their country at the highest level, in the World Cup."
"The French team represents, like so many other European national teams, the diversity of our societies. Its players are French. To question this is a harmful message that is equivalent to questioning the equality of millions of European citizens, whose only difference from other compatriots is their family origin," they argue in the document.
The MEPs emphasize that they have "the responsibility to respond clearly when discourses that fuel exclusion, xenophobia, and racism are normalized" and recall that Europe "was built on the values of equality, human dignity, the rule of law, and non-discrimination."
"We cannot remain silent when a political figure of relevance contributes to eroding those principles," they continue in the letter, in which they express their support "for the players of the French national football team, for the citizens of the French Republic, and for all Europeans who continue to suffer discrimination" and see their national identity questioned on grounds of ethnicity or race.
The members of the Eurochamber close the letter by reiterating their commitment to "a diverse, inclusive, and respectful Europe" with equality for all people, "regardless of their origin, skin color, or surnames."
"Faced with those who seek to redefine citizenship on criteria of exclusion, we must advocate for an idea of Europe based on equal rights, pluralism, and democratic coexistence," they conclude.