the Organizing Committee should be created at the beginning of February

After several months of waiting and tough negotiations, the Organizing Committee for the 2030 French Alps Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (Cojop) must be formed in the first days of February. Marie Barsacq, the Minister of Sports, Youth and Community Life, announced Thursday, January 9, the holding of a “constitutive general meeting” of Cojop, on the sidelines of a visit to the National Institute of Sport, Expertise and Performance (Insep), in Paris.

“We are in the process of setting the date”specified the minister who, before her trip to the temple of high-level French sport, spoke with former Prime Minister Michel Barnier, commissioned for a year by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to support the prefiguration of the future organizing committee.

“We will work hand in hand with Michel Barnier on this subject”assures the minister who, just like the former boss of the Organizing Committee for the Albertville 1992 Games, must meet ” shortly ” the presidents of the two host regions, Fabrice Pannekoucke (Les Républicains) for Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (AURA), and Renaud Muselier (Renaissance) for Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur.

During this constitutive general assembly the name of the person who will chair the Cojop should also be known. The end of a long soap opera. Archi-favorite, Martin Fourcade, who benefits from the support of the sports movement, the IOC and the head of state, had expressed his interest in the position in an interview with The Team on October 23.

“The very important role of mediator of Michel Barnier”

But the candidacy of the six-time Olympic biathlon champion pleased neither Renaud Muselier, nor the former boss of the AURA region Laurent Wauquiez, who preferred that of a close friend, Vincent Jay, also an Olympic biathlon champion. The two regional bosses feared seeing themselves stolen by a world-renowned sportsman.

Today, “things are settling down, we manage to have everyone aligned”argues Marie Barsacq, who underlines “the very important role of mediator in Michel Barnier’s system”. The Cojop des Alpes françaises 2030 must be installed, for accessibility reasons, near Lyon-Saint-Exupéry airport. The sports movement and public authorities should share, “50-50”the seats of the board of directors and the general assembly of the future body.

Asked about the Games legacy bill, which was announced by the former Minister of Sports and Games, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, M^me Barsacq added that “the priority on the legislative side is the Olympic and Paralympic law for the 2030 Games”. This text, which should be adopted by the end of the first half of the year, according to the former impact and legacy director within the Paris Games Organizing Committee, should in particular make it possible to accelerate town planning procedures on the different Games sites. « La Dijop [délégation interministérielle aux Jeux olympiques et paralympiques] is hard at work on the subject, we are discussing the parliamentary calendar”, she assures.