One hundred days before the Olympic Games, Emmanuel Macron tried to reassure on Monday that the opening ceremony would be held on the Seine, while outlining for the first time “plans B and C” in the event of a terrorist threat, particularly at the Stadium of France.
“This opening ceremony” along the capital’s river, on July 26, “is a first in the world. We can do it and we will do it,” said the French president in an interview on BFMTV and RMC from the Grand Palais construction site in Paris, which will host several events. But “there are plans B and even plans C”, “and we prepare them in parallel”, he added.
The head of state had already assured that alternative scenarios were being considered. For the first time, he began to detail them.
“We will do a real-time analysis” of the risks, he added. Alternative options would include a ceremony “limited to the Trocadéro”, near the Eiffel Tower, or even “repatriated to the Stade de France”, to the north of Paris, “because that is what is traditionally done”.
“Very wide” security perimeter
Until now, the executive has ruled out a withdrawal to the Stade de France, which hosts tests even before July 26.
In this hypothesis, it would be a purely formal ceremony, without the artistic dimension, to officially pronounce the opening of the Olympics, according to sources close to the matter. The question of the presence or not of spectators in this case has not been clarified.
“The president opened up all options, it was important that he said it,” said Frédéric Péchenard, former police officer now vice-president (LR, right) of the Ile-de-France region, interviewed by the AFP.
“It is not necessarily a bad idea to leave doubt for terrorists, who need to prepare and who will not know exactly what they should do,” he added.
Emmanuel Macron nevertheless wanted to reassure about the security system making it possible to maintain the river scenario, always privileged. “We have anticipated, we are setting up a security perimeter which will be very wide, where we will screen all the people who enter and leave,” he insisted.
The size of the festival has also been reduced: the number of spectators able to attend for free has increased from 500,000 to 222,000. With those who paid for their place at the bottom of the platforms, there should be around 320,000 in total.
By launching the countdown to this global event, and while the clouds are gathering internationally, the president also tried to relaunch the diplomatic usefulness of the Games.
“Olympic Truce”
She will therefore “do everything to have an Olympic truce”, he declared, promising to work on it in particular with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“I asked him to help me,” he added, confirming his coming to Paris “in a few weeks.” He is expected at the beginning of May, according to diplomatic sources. The UN General Assembly called in November for respecting the traditional “Olympic truce” this summer.
With this interview and this new site review after the inauguration of the “athletes’ village” and the Olympic swimming pool, the Head of State hopes to revive the fervor. An Ipsos poll published in La Tribune Dimanche shows that only 53% of French people say they are “interested” in the Games, eight points less than six months ago.
Worse: a majority of respondents say they are “worried” about France’s ability to ensure the smooth running of the Olympics. “France is a team, it is a united nation and therefore we are meeting this exemplary nature”, replied Emmanuel Macron, ensuring that he had “confidence in the unions” while some threaten to chain the strikes during the Games. “They have a spirit of responsibility, they will be at our side,” he said.
The President of the Republic then visited the construction site of the Grand Palais, subject to renovation since 2021, which is to host the Olympic and Paralympic fencing and taekwondo events. Delivery of the construction site to the Olympic Games organizing committee is scheduled for Friday.
The complete restoration of the site, built for the Universal Exhibition of 1900, must be completed in the spring of 2025 for the Grand Palais, the date of its reopening to the general public, and in 2027 for the Palais de la Découverte.
