BarcelonaThe Spanish Olympic Committee has clung to the Aragonese president, Javier Lambán, and has decided to fight for the right with the Olympic candidacy of the Winter Games in the Pyrenees in 2030. After months of negotiations to try to close a proposal to distribute The different sports of the candidacy between Aragon and Catalonia, the president of the COE, Alejandro Blanco, has decided to take the helm and it will be the COE who will decide what this candidacy will be like. And it will do so by betting mainly on the facilities of Catalonia, as they comply with the requirements of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and will serve to reward the government of the Generalitat, which has been more dialogical than the Aragonese. The future of the candidacy, then, depends on a return to the past, with a proposal to distribute the headquarters where the Catalan territory should benefit most. This Wednesday Blanco will hold a press conference to explain the future of the project.
The COE reported yesterday the lack of agreement after the eleventh meeting between representatives of the Spanish government, the Generalitat de Catalunya and the Government of Aragon with the Spanish Olympic Committee “in relation to the presentation before the International Olympic Committee of a candidacy for the celebration of the Winter Olympic Games in the Pyrenees, in Aragon and Catalonia “:” This meeting has ended without an agreement to be able to present a joint project “. Although the statement did not explain it, it was again the delegates from Aragon who refused to sign any agreement, considering that no proposal was in line with their positions. The government of Javier Lambán has not wanted to accept any counter-offer, so it has broken the bridges of this dialogue and has given a deadly blow to the possible joint candidacy with Catalonia.
“Catalonia wants the Games”
The COE, however, wants a Winter Games in the Pyrenees. And aware that it has been the Lambán government that has not made things easy, he will make his way with the Catalan government, which has always been more open to negotiations. Without much room for maneuver, Blanco has decided to end the life of this commission with representatives of all these actors and it will be the COE who will send to the International Olympic Committee the proposal of what these hypothetical Games would be like. It would not, however, be a candidacy only in Catalan territory in any case, because in the Catalan Pyrenees there are not some of the necessary facilities, which is why some sports would be taken abroad (there is talk of Sarajevo or the Alps) and it cannot be ruled out that we will end up adding some Aragonese clues. The Catalan government, which will still have to hold a referendum in the High Pyrenees this summer to validate the Games, has asked the COE to continue to consider all possible options, one of which is a Games only in Catalonia. The president of the Catalan Winter Sports Federation (FCEH), David Samper, has asked “the government of the Generalitat and the COE to present a candidacy only for Catalonia if Aragon remains without joining the agreement which he had initially signed “and added:” And we ask the Spanish Olympic Committee to be brave. We have not given up on any agreement, we have fulfilled our part of the deal. Catalonia wants the Games “. In principle, the COE is not only committed to the Games in Catalonia, but its new proposal should move closer to these positions.
Last February, the government of Javier Lambán broke an agreement that its technicians had initially validated for the distribution of its headquarters, considering that it was not “equitable”. Lambán insisted on having 50% of the events in his territory and sports in the three valleys of the Aragonese Pyrenees, despite the fact that this candidacy was forged in Barcelona in 2010. Both the COE and the Catalan Generalitat proposed new alternatives, but all have been rejected by Lambán. The latter was committed to offering tests in the three valleys of the Aragonese Pyrenees: cross-country skiing and biathlon in Candanchú and Formigal and the freestyle it would pass from Baqueira-Beret, in the Aran Valley, to that of Benasque. Catalonia ceded snow trials, so the agreement provided for Aragon to cede ice trials to Catalonia, in this case figure skating, initially planned in Zaragoza.
Lambán, surprised
Lambán’s position had led the Catalan government to recall that there is a technical proposal made to organize a Games only in Catalan territory, since initially the candidacy was only Catalan. But since the candidate is not a political body, but the COE, it demanded to include evidence in Aragon. After months of trying to find a fit, however, the COE itself is opting for a new path. A decision that would have taken the Lambán government by surprise, which in a statement explained that it wants to continue working for “a Spanish, joint and equal rights candidacy.” of the Aragonese ski resorts for the benefit of our main commercial, tourist and economic competitor, which is the Catalan Pyrenees. And we will take this to the last consequences, with all that that means “, added the Aragonese president.
The IOC does not want to submit a proposal to the International Olympic Committee before June 1, when IOC President Thomas Bach will visit Madrid. His idea is not to waste any more time because there are other cities interested in hosting the 2030 Games, such as Sapporo, Vancouver or Salt Lake City. The headquarters will be decided in March 2023.
