BRUSSELS: President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday (Dec 15) stood by his decision to travel to Qatar to support France's World Cup team, despite allegations linking the Gulf monarchy to corruption in the European Parliament.Macron watched France's semi-final victory over Morocco before flying to Brussels overnight to attend an EU summit.Belgian police investigating allegations that Qatar has been paying bribes to European politicians have arrested an MEP and three associates and charged them with corruption.Qatar denies any wrongdoing."I'm totally comfortable with it," Macron told reporters in Brussels who asked about the trip. "Four years ago I backed the French team in Russia, and I'm backing them in Qatar."Macron plans to return to Doha on Sunday to watch France play Argentina in the World Cup final.Ahead of the tournament, Qatar's labour laws and treatment of migrant labourers came under scrutiny as well as the number of deaths on World Cup-linked building sites.That led to calls to boycott the competition in France, including from French football legend Eric Cantona.
Cities such as Paris said they would not show matches on public screens."There was a lot of discussion with people saying 'I'm not going to follow it, I'll boycott it on television', but the figures are there," Macron said.TV viewing figures showed more than 20 million people in France watched Les Bleus beat Morocco 2-0 on Wednesday night, almost a third of the population.Macron's trip to Qatar, which saw him sit in the VIP enclosure and then join the victorious team in the dressing room afterwards, drew criticism from his domestic opponents.Some seized on his praise for Qatar after the game, when he said the Gulf monarchy was organising the cup "very