"Qatar organizes this cup very well," said a euphoric Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday evening after the qualification of the Blues for the world final.
This Thursday, several opposition politicians were offended by so much benevolence towards a country implicated for its non-respect of human rights.
Marine Le Pen (RN) and Mathilde Panot (LFI) notably denounced “inappropriate” and “indecent” remarks.
Sporting events "are there to bring people together and so that sometimes nations that do not know how to talk to each other politically, talk to each other", declared the French president on Wednesday after the qualification of the Blues in the final, believing that Qatar was organizing "very well” this Cup.
🗣 “Sport must unite (…) It must be recognized that Qatar organizes this World Cup very well, let’s not squander on our pleasure, we are in the final” concludes Emmanuel Macron after the match of the blues against the Morocco.
#FRAMAR pic.twitter.com/qylfoZHTLu
— franceinfo (@franceinfo) December 14, 2022
"On the banned LGBT colors, there are plenty of things that we must continue to resolve, plenty of countries where things must be resolved," he said.
"The compliments made to Qatar (
by the President of the Republic
) when a very serious case of corruption of European authorities by Qatar has just exploded seems to me particularly out of place", declared Marine Le Pen this Thursday, questioned on the sidelines of an interview at Matignon on pensions.
Marine Le Pen: "The compliments given to Qatar when a very serious case of corruption has just exploded seems to me inappropriate" pic.twitter.com/u8ChlRVOHP
— BFMTV (@BFMTV) December 15, 2022
The leader of the National Rally refers to the investigation launched by Belgian justice, due to suspicions of corruption of the Vice-President of the European Parliament by the Gulf country.
Marine Le Pen's party, formerly the National Front, has also been the subject of several investigations and indictments for suspicions of fictitious jobs for European parliamentary assistants in recent years.
“Never a word of criticism”
Mathilde Panot, leader of the LFI deputies, for her part judged on Public Senate "indecent that Emmanuel Macron and his government in a way endorse what happened in this World Cup", in particular with reference to the decision FIFA to ban the wearing of the "One love" armband in support of the LGBTQ community, under pressure from the host country.
"Emmanuel Macron is one of those who said that Qatar organized this World Cup well, that Qatar was making progress on a number of points and, at the same time, you have a scandal like no other. has ever had, in the European Parliament", she also noted.
What "shocks" is "not so much his presence (in Qatar) as the fact that he never had a word of criticism of this World Cup", estimated for his part the ecologist deputy Sandrine Rousseau on LCI.
“I never heard him denounce the 6,000 people who died building the stadiums” or “have a single word about ecology or LGBT people”.
🔴🗣️ "What shocks me is not so much the presence of @EmmanuelMacron" at #Qatar2022 "as the fact that he has never had a word of criticism of this World Cup": @sandrousseau at @agindre in #LesMatinsLCI.
pic.twitter.com/Iam3JbGLxh
— LCI (@LCI) December 15, 2022
In February 2021, the British newspaper The Guardian revealed that 6,752 foreign workers had died on the construction sites of the World Cup stadiums in Qatar.
A figure that could be underestimated because only taking into account workers from South East Asia and not counting the deaths of workers from Africa, among others, for which data are not available.
Emmanuel Macron said this Thursday "totally" assume the fact of going to support the French team in Qatar.
He has already announced his intention to return to the Gulf country to attend the final between France and Argentina on Sunday.
