On July 24, the president of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, announced that the French Alps had won the next 2030 Winter Olympics.
Two days before the start the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France learned, through the voice of Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), that it had won the next Winter Olympics which will take place in 2030.
An event that will take place in the French Alps.
But now, in a survey carried out by France 2, it could be that this application sold as “solid” by the State can become a financial pit.
u26f7ud83dudd34 DOCUMENT #JT20h : according to 2 confidential reports, the accounts for the 2030 Winter Olympics in France should be in deficit
Behind the scenes, a standoff between the Elysée, Matignon and the two regional presidents against a backdrop of budgetary instability. An investigation of the#Oeildu20h. pic.twitter.com/DuL1I0SvxF
— Le20h-France Télévisions (@le20hfrancetele) https://twitter.com/le20hfrancetele/status/1868746669728104748?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
According to our colleagues, the explosion of French debt and the political instability reigning in France has changed the situation, leading the Ministry of the Economy to sound the alarm.
Indeed, the revenues from the Winter Games are often lower than those from the Summer Games, the IOC was clear with France by asking it to commit to financing a possible deficit. “I will ask the next Prime Minister, not only to include this guarantee, but also to promulgate an Olympic law in the next government”, assured the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, on July 24.
For his part, David Lappartient, the president of the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF), explains that “by definition, the budget of the organizing committee is more deficit. We don't do as many ticket sales in a ski event as in stadiums for basketball or even rugby. When we make a 1.3 billion ticket sales for the Summer Games, we're going to make 230 million for the Winter Games instead.”
Two damning reports
In addition, our colleagues were able to consult two confidential reports from the IGF (General Inspectorate of Finance) which already warned that the Winter Olympics risked being in the red, evoking “a heavily deficit budget” or even that “the COJOP forecast result immediately presents an imbalance, which the mission estimates at between 850 and 900 million eurosto be covered by the communities.”
Because of these figures, the Prime Minister at the time, Gabriel Attal, would then have made “résistance” for not signing the IOC letter of guarantee, despite the insistence of Emmanuel Macron.
Then came Michel Barnier who signed the letter by sending it on October 2 to the IOC, but lo and behold, the motion of censure disrupted the calendar since funding for the Olympics had to be included in the 2025 budget.
The Regions “do not seem to prioritize financial control”
Finally, a final damning report revealed by our colleagues indicates that “the organization of these Games is mainly carried out by the CNOSF and the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur regions do not seem to prioritize financial control.
