Sometimes life is not as complicated as we make it out to be. To be convinced of this, you just need to observe those involved in the preparation of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (JOP) of Paris 2024. A problem – exceptional, of course – in closing a budget? No worries, we are calling for help from the sphere of public actors – State and local authorities.
This is what should happen for Club France, this place for celebrating French medalists, which will be installed at the Grande Halle de la Villette, in Paris, during the Games. “The public authorities will find a solution”, assured, Wednesday March 27, in front of the deputies, the interministerial delegate to the JOP, Michel Cadot. He was referring to the fact that the French National Olympic and Sports Committee, responsible for the said Club France, where 700,000 visitors are expected, will not be able to finance it entirely with private funds.
“Everyone is aware that we will have to find, through collective effort, a way to compensate 3 to 5 million euros – 5 is a maximum – out of the 22 million” overall budget, explained Mr. Cadot. If the expenses for this space are higher than expected, the revenues are also lower than anticipated, several federations having refused to pay the asking price to set up there and having opted for their own celebration space, in another location .
Calling on the public sphere to cover certain costs and ensure a balanced budget is also the option chosen, and assumed, by the Games Organizing Committee (Cojop), which constantly reminds that it owes nothing to public money (it relies on private financing for 96%). “I say it loud and clear, I will continue to ask our stakeholders the question”, says Fabrice Lacroix, the financial director, while Cojop Paris 2024 recently asked the Ile-de-France region and the City of Paris if they could assume some of the expenses due to it – which they refused . Calling on public money is definitely an irresistible temptation…
Cuts in sports funding
Whether it is the Club France deficit to be filled, or the transfers of charges that Cojop is seeking to carry out, we can undoubtedly say that it is “only” a few million euros of money audience. That this will not have any consequences.
Nevertheless, we cannot help but emphasize that there is a collision here with the official discourse on the organization of the JOP, which wants that “the Games finance the Games”, and with the national budgetary context, marked by cuts in state spending of 10 billion euros this year and 20 billion in 2025.
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2024-03-28 17:25:25
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