Commissioners and MEPs of different nationalities and groups sign the shirt of the Spanish national football team as a show of support for the footballer Jenni Hermoso.
Luis Rubiales’s non-consensual kiss to Jenni Hermoso, striker of Spanish Football Team, was broadcast live during the awards ceremony. It wasn’t an isolated fact. As it often happens, it was just the tip of the iceberg.
The players of the Spanish Football Team had to win a World Cup for the world to listen them. For years they have been reporting, without being heard, the vexatious and degrading treatment they have suffered for decades, the discrimination they suffer in their working conditions. The difference is that this time the aggression was seen by millions of viewers around the world. Rubiales’ later embarrassing press conference (at the time, still president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation and vice president of UEFA) showed the abuse of power and its hierarchical superiority. The ship Rubiales would still take a few days to sink. But it had already clashed, head on, against a society that is not the same as before, which remained attentive to the pressures received by the player and her family, who wrapped them up and supported their unanimous cry of #SeAcabó. Violence and discrimination in the world of sport have become more visible thanks to Spain winning the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
In this context, I have led the initiative in the European Parliament and have defended, in the Strasbourg Plenary Session, that the shirt of the Spanish Football Team is a symbol of zero tolerance for discrimination and sexual violence in sport, both in Spain, in Europe and throughout the world.
Commissioner for Values Vera Jourová, Helena Dalli, Commissioner for Equality, and Renew Europe spokesman Stéphane Séjourné, have stamped their signature on the garment, as well as MEPs of various nationalities and political parties. Our goal is to send her to the Women’s Football Team so that Jenni Hermoso and all the players receive the support of the Eurochamber.
If policy makers in Spain had acted in time, Rubiales would not have resigned; he would have been dismissed. Although the non-consensual kiss of the former president of the Federation is in the courts, as a Spanish MEP I would like to recall that the responsibility for not happening again is also in the European Parliament. The voice and support of the European Parliament are important steps towards eradicating these problems, and it is the responsibility of all of us, as a society, to continue to promote sport as a safe space, an example of equality and tolerance around the world.
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Commissioner for Values Vera Jourová, Helena Dalli, Commissioner for Equality, and Renew Europe spokesman Stéphane Séjourné, have stamped their signature on the garment, as well as MEPs of various nationalities and political parties.
