One amendment surreptitiously replaced another. And in passing, it is the amount of the planned credit reductions which has increased. This is what happened on Thursday January 16 for the expenses that the State plans to devote to the sport, youth and community life mission in 2025, just a few hours before these were submitted to senators in within the framework of the examination of the finance bill.
This prospect of additional cuts, amounting to 123.5 million euros in total, including 34.3 million in the budget devoted to sport, has triggered very strong reactions of incomprehension in the world of sport.
The latter was already marked by the prospect, at the end of a year 2024 marked by the success of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (JOP), of a sharp drop in public appropriations in the initial draft budget: -273 million euros , including −85 million due to the end of exceptional measures linked to the Games.
New editorial in the afternoon of Thursday
Where, in the fall, the government of Michel Barnier had planned to have an amendment adopted in order to make additional savings of 55.5 million euros on the budget of the Ministry of Sports, Youth and Community Life , the government of François Bayrou drafted, in the afternoon of Thursday, a new amendment, which brings these cancellations of credits to 123.5 million euros.
The executive justifies these additional cuts by its desire to reduce the public deficit this year, to “achieve the target of 5.4% of GDP”, compared to 6.1% expected in 2024.
For the Ministry of Sports, Youth and Community Life, the additional savings envisaged by Mr. Barnier's government should mainly relate to the youth and community life component, particularly on the credits allocated to the universal national service (for 49 million euros).
“We cannot sacrifice sport,” assured the minister
In the version of Mr. Bayrou's government, the cancellations of credits will relate even more strongly to this same youth and community life mission: − 89.2 million euros, both in payment authorizations and in payment credits.
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But the sports mission is no longer spared either: where there was only 0.47 million euros in credit cancellations, 34.3 million euros are now planned, both in authorizations for payment only in payment credits.
The government amendment does not detail what the cuts will cover. With regard to sport, these measures run counter to the declarations of the new Minister of Sports, Youth and Community Life, Marie Barsacq. The latter has in fact displayed, in recent days, its conviction that the“we cannot sacrifice sport” the day after the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
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“Urgent to correct the situation”, according to CNOSF
“If Paris 2024 were to remain an enchanted parenthesis, this is the path to follow”reacted, regarding these new cuts envisaged by the government, the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF), in a press release published Thursday at the end of the day.
“If we want this heritage to become a pillar of our society, and the appointment of Marie Barsacq is a major signal in this area, it is urgent to correct the situation”added the instance, noting that“with such a sports budget for 2025, there will be no additional clubs, no accessible equipment, no reinforcement of sports supervisors. We will not be able to maintain the momentum generated by Paris 2024”.
“The sports movement will stand up against this contempt for sport after the Games”also reacted Philippe Bana, the president of the French Handball Federation, when Vincent Saulnier, secretary general of the National Association of elected officials in charge of sport (Andes), called “the senators to preserve the means of sport, this powerful vector of cohesion affirmed the day before yesterday by the Prime Minister”François Bayrou in the rare words he devoted to sport in his general policy speech.
The Union Sport & Cycle, for its part, expressed “his incomprehension and his rejection of such a measure”. The professional organization of the sports and leisure sector has denounced a “political inconsistency”considering that the day after the Games, “creators of scenes of joy, fraternity and pride”the government “sends a disastrous message to millions of French athletes”.
