The French President, Emmanuel Macronasked this Tuesday “maximum effort” to the institutions and organizations involved in the organization of the Paris 2024 Olympic Gamesto continue “giving everything” and, in 500 days, to give “the most beautiful image of France” worldwide.
“Even though we’ve been doing well so far, we don’t have to relax. I want maximum effort in the 500 days left“, harangued Macron, in a speech delivered at the headquarters of the Paris Prefecture and the region of the capital (Ile-de-France), 500 days before the Olympic Games and Paralympics.
In his address at the end of meeting with the Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games and with representatives of the forces of order, the president recognized, in a general way, that there are “two or three issues” in which improvement was needed, without giving more details. Macron avoided addressing two highly criticized issues: the security flaws happened in May 2022 at the Stade de France during the Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid and the current crisis in parisaffected by a strike by garbage collectors that has left thousands of tons of waste uncollected.
The Head of State did refer to a certain indifference to the Games in a part of the French population, especially the Parisian one, and asked that the event be as accessible as possible. “We have to encourage all the inhabitants to get on our ship,” urged Macron, who commented that the French state has already bought 400,000 tickets to donate to young people and the disabled.
Much of the testing will be held in the north of Paris, in the impoverished district of Saint-Denis. “In the next 500 days we have an important job ahead of us: to make it a really popular party and to there is no feeling of frustration or being left behind by our compatriots”, he warned, referring to the inhabitants of Saint-Denis. “Sometimes – Macron added – paradoxical situations can occur, such as that of neighbors who live a few hundred meters from world-scale events, but not they have access to them and feel as far away as those on the other side of the planet.”
The French president also referred to the “legacy” he wants from these Olympic Games and highlighted, among others, the cleaning the Seine river that flows through Paris and the Marnein the outskirts of the city, until they become suitable for bathing.
