The Ministry of Sports, Youth and Community Life announced, Thursday, October 10, a sharp reduction in the sports budget as part of the finance bill for 2025. Credits allocated to sport are down by 268 million euros (-24.9%). The overall budget of the ministry increases from 1,810 million to 1,578 million euros (-14.7%), taking into account the increase of 36 million euros in appropriations for the “youth and community life” part.
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A decline was expected, but of a lesser magnitude. On September 23, the Minister of Sports, Gil Avérous, declared that there was “a certain logic” to the drop in appropriations after the Olympic and Paralympic Games (JOP). The extinction of exceptional expenses linked to the Games (construction of the Olympic sites, bonuses for medalists, cost of the “Win in France” program for high performance, solidarity ticketing, the France club, the reception of foreign Olympic delegations, etc.) represents 151 million euros of mechanical reduction between 2024 and 2025.
Which means that the sports budget excluding expenses linked to the Games decreases by 115 million euros. “Such a reduction on a budget of 900 million would be a very bad signal, reacts Michel Savin, senator from Isère, member of the Les Républicains group, vice-president of the committee on culture, education, communication and sport. This would be in contradiction with the stated desire to make France a great sporting nation. »
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Savings on sports equipment
It is on expenditure aimed at financing “structuring” sports equipment (gyms, fields, swimming pools, etc.) that the majority of savings will be made. While the “5,000 plots of land – 2024 generation” plan provided for an expenditure of 300 million euros over three years, this envelope is frozen for 2025. “We can meet needs by carrying forward unused credits to 2024”we declare to the ministry.
“These arguments are difficult to hear, because the government has chosen to freeze these credits, continues Mr. Savin. These expenses, which constitute support for local authorities, should be considered as necessary investments to encourage the practice of sport. At the start of the school year, many clubs are refusing children because there is a lack of equipment, especially swimming pools. »
An opinion shared by Claude Kern, senator from Bas-Rhin, member of the Union Centrist group. “I am disappointed, because the budget presented is not going in the right direction, he said. I can understand that there is a mechanical reduction in the budget after the Games, but not that we give up riding the wave of the Olympic summer, which could allow us to make France a great sporting nation. Once again, it is from local authorities that we are asking for an effort. »
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