BarcelonaThe Spanish Olympic Committee (COE) does not want to know anything about the candidacies for the 2030 Olympic Games in Catalonia or Aragon alone. In a statement from President Alejandro Blanco, he stated today “his commitment to the candidacy for the Winter Olympics in accordance with what was presented to the President of the International Olympic Committee on July 8, 2021, accompanied by the letters of intent from the presidents of the government of Spain, the Generalitat de Catalunya and the government of Aragon “. In other words, it continues to negotiate in three ways with the Catalan and Aragonese governments, to try to get them to agree on a proposal to distribute the headquarters.
Blanco explains that “the COE will continue to work, as before, on the preparation of the necessary documentation for the presentation of a project for the Winter Games in the Pyrenees, Catalonia and Aragon, which meets the technical requirements of the Olympic Committee International and aligned with it “. “And it will at the same time maintain the necessary contacts with the heads of the governments involved, in order to materialize the presentation of this draft candidacy as soon as feasible.” Blanco has admitted on several occasions that the deadline for submitting the proposal would be June 1, when International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach will visit Madrid at an event on refugees. The position of the government of Aragon, which broke the first pact reached on the distribution of sports in a hypothetical Games, has complicated everything and has given way to months of underground talks between the governments of Spain, Aragon , from Catalonia and the COE itself. No agreement has been reached yet.
Given the position of Javier Lambán, the Government has recalled that the first proposal to bring the Winter Games to the Pyrenees in 2030 was the Catalan one. “We are ready, we have the facilities and we have already made the technical proposal,” recalled last week the president of the Catalan Federation of Winter Sports (FECH), David Samper. Però aquella primera proposta catalana es va modificar un cop va ser elevada al Comitè Olímpic espanyol, que va demanar incloure proves a l’Aragó. And over the months, the aspirations of the Aragonese government have gone further, to the point that Lambán has rejected the proposal that his technicians had validated and has demanded to have 50% of the tests and that they be done in the three valleys of the Aragonese Pyrenees.
Save time
Blanco has admitted that he initially set May 20 as the deadline for a final agreement, and then postponed it to June 1. “The idea was to close the proposal this May so that we could go ahead with other candidates who may have more powerful facilities,” they told the COE, referring to Sapporo (Japan), Salt Lake City (USA) and Vancouver. Canada). But who until recently has been the CEO of the International Olympic Committee and still advises Thomas Bach, the Catalan Pere Miró, has recalled that there is no specific deadline to present the Pyrenean candidacy. Negotiations can therefore continue beyond June 1, although it could lose its strong position if the other candidates go ahead. Nor does the image of lack of union that has led to the change of script of the government of Aragon help. The IOC changed the way it chooses its headquarters: now there is no deadline for voting, but it receives the proposals and studies them, in dialogue with the territory. And when he considers that he has found one that fits them, he makes it official. Likewise, the IOC does not want to go beyond the first months of 2023 to make a decision.
The Aragonese community is waiting to know the new proposal of the COE. Aragon showed its rejection of the first technical document, which was signed by the Generalitat and the Spanish government, and drew up a counter-proposal which was not accepted. He also rejected a second proposal that brought tests to the three valleys of the Pyrenees in exchange for ceding figure skating to Catalonia.
The Generalitat, meanwhile, remains in the same position as in recent weeks. “Nothing has changed,” they say from Plaça Sant Jaume, where they reaffirm the closed agreement with the COE and the Spanish government, and do not even look down on the latest proposal on the table to break the blockade, which he proposed adding freestyle events in Aragon in exchange for figure skating in Barcelona. But Catalonia does not anticipate giving up much more ground and considers that it has always acted responsibly and loyally, both in technical tasks and in the agreement it signed on 1 April.
