BarcelonaWhen the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE) rejected the joint candidacy of Catalonia and Aragon for the 2030 Winter Olympics, the Government explained that it was still “working for a candidacy when possible”, in the words of the minister of Presidency, Laura Vilagrà. The executive formalized his solo candidacy in July 2022, but since then, the issue has stalled and the executive has not received any feedback of the COE. However, consulted government sources admit that they have also not insisted on promoting the candidacy for future calls. Kind of waiting for the candidacy of the Pyrenees, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has pulled for the right and for the year 2030 is working with the idea of a Games in the French Alps, and as for 2034, the destination would be Salt Lake City, in the United States. For 2038, a return to the Alps is being studied, in this case in Switzerland. According to the sources of the Catalan executive, the Government does not plan to lift a finger for new appointments nor does it expect to “receive any proposal” from the COE.
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“The Government does not expect that in this legislature there will be the possibility of an Olympic candidacy again”, they say from the Government. The Games, therefore, are buried and this is also certified by sources from the Olympic Committee, which at the time already made it clear that its objective was for Aragon and Catalonia to organize the Games together and not one of the two alone. Even today, sources in the organization blame the uncompromising position of the then president of Aragon, Javier Lambán, for the failure of the 2030 project, informa Toni Padilla.
The official election of the next venues for the Games will take place during the congress that will take place next July in France. The Government believes, therefore, that it no longer makes sense to foresee any items in the budgets because they have not received any input from the COE and the IOC to try again. In fact, this year there has been no item in the accounts intended for the Games and there will not be any for those preparing for 2024, and this is because at the time a consultation had been prepared in the territory which generated a lot of controversy Now the executive considers that the Olympic door is closed and if at some point a new proposal arrives, the Government should study it, especially taking into account the drought situation.
The water crisis
A few weeks ago, the International Ski Federation (FIS) canceled the Alpine Paraski World Cup that was to be held in mid-January in La Molina because there is not enough snow. In mid-November, the Generalitat also decided to withdraw the aid line to subsidize artificial snow and this item of 1.2 million euros will go towards the purchase of 90 social housing units in the Upper Pyrenees and Aran.
Of La Molina’s 71 skiable km, 14 are open. In Port del Comte there are only 12% of the slopes available and in Boí Taüll, 30%. “Climate change is there, but many times we have had a Christmas like this one”, points out a director of a Catalan ski resort, who also remembers that two winters ago was one of the best seasons in history . “There are years when there are many and others when there are none,” comments another station manager.
The same sources insist that the water from the snow cannons is the same that was used the previous season once it melted. Be that as it may, they consider that the current situation of the Catalan slopes does not necessarily mean that there will be no snow in 2030 and they regret that the Games have been ruled out. The spokesperson of the Stop Jocs platform, Bernat Lavaquiol, has the opposite opinion: “We celebrate that they have ended, we congratulate the people of the Pyrenees who have helped to stop the nonsense and we promise to continue fighting to benefit the popular classes instead of big capital tourist”.
The position of the territory
Josefina Lladós, president of the Regional Council of Alt Urgell, also celebrates it: “The Games disguised the reality we have in the Pyrenees”, reflects. He defines the Olympic candidacy as a “soufflé” that grew and suddenly disappeared. So much so that many local officials have not heard anything more about it in any meeting when it used to be the monotopic. This is confirmed by sources from the Vall d’Aran syndicate and many regional councils, such as Pallars Jussà, Pallars Sobirà or Berguedà.
“I’ve been mayor for six months and in no meeting has the Government brought up the issue,” comments the mayor of Pont de Suert, Iolanda Ferran. And that two months before Ferran was elected mayor, in March 2023, Councilor Vilagrà affirmed in a parliamentary response to which ARA has had access that the Government “still believed” in the Winter Games. By then, however, the Games Technical Office had already been dissolved for almost a year. Of that body, only the director, Mònica Bosch, who is now an advisor to the Presidency department on transversal projects, remains.
Iolanda Ferran, mayor of a municipality that borders Aragon, regrets above all the clash with the neighboring territory: “We have a very fluid confluence with the Strip,” she says. The clamor of the municipal officials is the same: the no to the Games must not prevent planned improvements from being made. “We have precarious infrastructures, a housing problem, we are going backwards in services, we lack specialists”, criticizes the mayor of Rialp, Gerard Sabarich. And he, who was in favor of the Games, also regrets that the project is buried. “In 2010, when the project was launched, I was already mayor. If the current government thinks this, I wish there would be a change of government,” he concludes.
2023-12-30 07:00:37
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