Carole Delga took Kylian Mbappé and Yannick Noah as an example on the subject of immigration declaring that they “are from other countries” when they were born in France.
A misstep noticed. Guest of franceinfo on Wednesday June 7, the socialist president of the Occitanie region, Carole Delga, declared that Kylian Mbappé and Yannick Noah were “from other countries”, while being questioned about immigration. However, the football star and the legendary tennis player were both born in France.
This exit did not escape the opponents of Carole Delga, on the left. “Carole Delga displays her prejudices about the nationality of French people according to their skin color. Appalling contamination by the clichés of the far right”tackle on Twitter the leader of La France insoumise (LFI), Jean-Luc Mélenchon. All these people are defeating France instead of building its unity every day. Occitania deserves better”.
“Mrs. Delga is not the Republican left”
“The ‘left outside Nupes’? Well, it’s the right… Thank you, but no thank you!” also reacts on Twitter the deputy La France insoumise Aurélien Saintoul. The president of Regions of France is, in fact, hostile to Nupes. “Ms. Delga is not the Republican left. Her remarks are neither leftist nor Republican”, engages his colleague LFI Mathias Tavel. A tweet shared by the movement’s coordinator, Manuel Bompard.
“Wow the sequence…”, commented the ecologist deputy Sandrine Rousseau on the same social network, before deleting her tweet. In this “sequence”, Carole Delga believes that‘”we must stop conveying this image of an immigration which only represents a threat”takes the two athletes as an example. “Who are the favorite personalities of the French? It’s Kylian Mbappé and Yannick Noahshe says. They are from other countries.” When it is pointed out to her that they were both born in France, she tries to correct herself: “Their parents were not born in France”, she corrects. However, the mothers of Kylian Mbappé and Yannick Noah were both born in France. “What I want to talk to you about is that we cannot be fair in the stigmatization of immigration”she evacuates. “Immigration is a source of wealth for France”she also assures, while the government is working on a new text on the subject.
“I regret that I misspoke”
After the interview aired and the reactions it elicited, Carole Delga took to Twitter to assure that immigration is “a wealth, a contribution to the genius and success of our country”. “I’m sorry I misspoke” she concludes, recalling her surname, Delga: “First, second, hundredth generation, we are all children of immigrants”.
She received the support of the boss of the PS. Olivier Faure defends the president of the Occitanie region. A “false trial against Carole Delga”he reacted on Twitter. “His words clarified, the left must move the debate forward. The PS that I lead will always be uncompromising with the racists”he swept away, adding that “the Republic recognizes all its children without reference to their origins or their skin color”.