Ahead of today’s World Cup semi-final between France and Spain, certain comments by former Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy have sparked a heated debate in Europe’s press and beyond. He wrote that France had “a top-level squad. That said, they don’t have any French players”. Aurore Bergé, France’s Minister for the Fight Against Discriminations, condemned the politician for making racist remarks. Nations are something more than tribesJOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. Lamia El Aaraje (Spain) , deputy mayor of Paris, writes in El País: “Being French is not a question of ethnicity, ancestry or skin colour. It is a political promise, a contract that each individual signs based on what they contribute, not on what they inherit. One can belong to a nation through the blood one has received or the blood one sheds – by birth or by choice. But never because of the colour of one’s skin. That is precisely what makes our nations something more than tribes, and that is precisely what nationalists in every country cannot forgive them for. ... On Tuesday evening two great nations will come together in Dallas – nations that did not have to be ‘pure’ to be great.” Hard-earned success The French national team is an example of successful integration achieved through hard work and dedication, Webcafé (Bulgaria) affirms: “Sport is one of the few areas in which people from poor, predominantly migrant-populated ghettos can successfully integrate into society. ... Sport is one of the few remaining areas in which a person can prove their own worth – through hard work, effort, dedication and achievements – rather than through who their parents are and whether they were born with a silver spoon in their mouth or in a squalid ghetto. In football you only get ahead if you fight hard and constantly prove yourself – to yourself, to the team and to the fans.”