Verbal Confrontation Between Macron and His Colombian Counterpart During Seville Conference

During a meeting between Colombian President Gustavo Petro and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron at the Fourth International Conference on Development Financing in Seville, Spain, a sharp verbal confrontation occurred between the two leaders.

Petro strongly criticized Western countries, accusing them of discriminating between the North and the South in distributing COVID vaccines. He stated that vaccines reached wealthy countries first while being delayed in reaching poorer countries, resulting in more deaths.

Petro said: "Mr. President Macron, yes, it is now possible to produce double the amount of vaccines in South Africa, but when people were dying due to COVID, how long did it take for the vaccine to reach one country compared to another? Wasn't the market the one that determined the speed? I saw it myself, it reached the United States and Europe first, while it reached the poorest countries last. How many unnecessary deaths occurred? The number of deaths in Europe was much lower than in poor countries."


The Colombian President called for a "completely different healthcare system," demanding that the climate crisis be a major topic in the world instead of trying to gain electoral gains through anti-immigrant speeches, in a direct attack on the far right.

He added: "Three years ago, when I took office in Colombia, the main issue in international meetings was the climate crisis. Today, immigration has become the main topic. Votes are being won through anti-immigrant rhetoric in the North, because there is already a North and a South, you can measure that by the amount of carbon dioxide emissions... Why has immigration become the issue? I hear worse speeches than before."

Macron became agitated and took the microphone, expressing his annoyance, and responded to Petro's criticisms in a sharp tone, saying that he does not accept lessons from anyone based on their geographical affiliation, affirming that there are politicians in Europe who do not exploit the immigration issue and strongly resist the far right.

The French President said: "I do not give lessons to anyone from the South, and it is very strange to receive lessons from someone from the South just because they are from the South. I demand the same level of respect. We have politicians in Europe who are not obsessed with immigration and fiercely combat the far right. This exists. Let's not oversimplify our political reality, please."