According to the promoters of the 2030 Winter Olympics, Michel Barnier was the man for the job. The ideal prime minister to finalize the contract binding the stakeholders to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the owner of the Games. Pushed to resign after the vote on the motion of censure in the Assembly on December 4, Michel Barnier could once again be involved in the French Alps issue, Agence France-Presse revealed on Tuesday December 17.
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The name of the former Prime Minister was mentioned, during a meeting Tuesday at the Hôtel de Matignon, in Paris, with the French stakeholders of the 2030 Olympics and representatives of the IOC, to support the future president of the Olympic Committee. organization of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Cojop) of the French Alps – a function which should fall, unless there is a huge surprise, to the former biathlete Martin Fourcade, 36 years old.
Nothing was officially defined during this meeting. But according to The TeamMichel Barnier, 73 years old, “could, in view of his experience, lead a voluntary and temporary prefiguration mission, as an IOC representative”.
In other words, the former co-organizer of the Albertville Games (Savoie), in 1992, very good knowledge of the world of Olympics and the territories concerned, would help in the first months of the year 2025 Martin Fourcade to launch the future Cojop, the creation of which was postponed until the end of January. To this day, the name of the six-time Olympic champion still upsets the executives of the host regions of the Olympic Games, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (AURA) and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (PACA).
“There is no more time to waste”
A source close to Matignon confirms Wednesday, at Monde, that this role of “prefigurator” entrusted to Michel Barnier was decided “at the request of stakeholders and in agreement with the IOC and the French authorities, in particular to support the establishment and rise of Cojop as well as the establishment of its links with public authorities and territories”. According to this same source, “Michel Barnier, who has the confidence of the IOC but also of the two regions, could provide solutions”. In other words, the presence of the former prime minister would be, for the leaders of the AURA and PACA regions, the guarantee that decisions on the 2030 Olympics will not be taken without them.
The Barnier hypothesis would also reassure the IOC, which has no longer hidden its impatience in recent days seeing the French project slipping. The body based in Lausanne (Switzerland) sent a letter to this effect to Matignon at the beginning of December, just before the resignation of Mr. Barnier, urging the French authorities to finalize the constitution of the governance of Cojop.
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David Lappartient also sounded the alarm on December 12. “Five years before the Games, there is a certain urgency for the Cojop to be created and functional,” recalled the president of the French National Olympic and Sports Committee. “There is no more time to waste. The sooner the better”confirms to Monde a government source. Before adding: “In this project, we have no choice but to seek compromise. »
On the infrastructure side, things are progressing more quickly. Created on 1is January 2025, Solideo 2030, which will be responsible for building or supervising the construction of the Olympic facilities (ice rink in Nice, extension of the Courchevel ski jump, Olympic village, etc.), is already looking for a general director. The job description was published on November 30 at Official Journal.
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