sport amputated, Olympism flouted

The announcement of the 2025 finance law plunged the sports family into incomprehension and anger. While France has just experienced a historic chapter in its history with the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games and the sale of more than 12,000,000 tickets without forgetting the announcement by the COJO of a surplus of at least 26 .8 million euros on the budget, the new Government cuts the Sports budget a little more, weakening a family that was until then united.

It is a sporting movement which wakes up today broken, challenged and disillusioned. The sports budget, a fundamental pillar of social development and national cohesion, is cut drastically, positioning the discourse around heritage and the sporting nation as totally secondary or even illusory. The announcement fell, cold and implacable: the sports budget for 2025, which will pass from 909 million euros to 607 million eurossuffered a sharp cut of more than 300 million euros. A figure which, beyond financial statistics, represents disrupted lives, interrupted projects, and weakened structures.

Because behind these millions, there are volunteers, educators, local clubs, young people looking for guidance, seniors doing good, young girls emancipating themselves, boys learning, adults who reassure themselves. Sport for all, the sport that builds bridges, builds individuals, and integrates the most vulnerable, is once again being undermined and little respected. And yet it is from there that everything starts and everything is written.

Reactions That Testify the Depth of Shock

The reactions within the sporting world are unanimous: incomprehension, disappointment, anger. Paralympic champion Marie-Amélie Le Fur, President of the ANS and spokesperson for a generation of committed athletes who powerfully believes in the impact of sport, speaks with pain and determination at the same time: “What disillusionment with this signal sent to an entire generation, to all associations and volunteers, to educators who believe so much in the power of sport.” These words, full of emotion, resonate like a cry of distress within a sports family worried about its future.

For his part, Cédric Gosse, President of the French Triathlon Federation, denounces a policy which does not recognize the value of sport as a factor of unity and social transformation: “Who are we kidding? The bill of Finance 2025 already anticipated a reduction of more than 100 million euros with this January 2, and the situation continues to worsen with 34 million euros of additional cuts. This budget is becoming marginal. These sharp cuts, incomprehensible in the post-Olympic context, risk causing French sport to lose its driving role in society.

Sport: An Investment for the Future

Sport is not just a leisure activity, it is an investment for the future, for young people and for our elders. The National Association of Elected Officials in Charge of Sport (ANDES) forcefully recalled this in a press release published this Friday. The impact of sport on society, on the well-being of individuals, on their self-confidence and their mental health, is a reality that no accounting figure can ignore.”

For local actors, volunteers, local clubs, this announcement is experienced as a blow. Evelyne Ciriegi, President of the Île-de-France Regional Olympic and Sports Committee, representative of the CROS/CTOS at the CNOSF, underlines the incomprehension of such a decision: “We have the impression of being in a bad dream. cutting the budget by more than 30%, it is the grassroots sport, the one that counts and changes destinies, the one that is aimed at the most vulnerable, that we put in danger It is truly the notion of cohesion and social bond which is broken and mistreated. Only sport has been able to bring people together in a difficult period for our country. This summer, we have shown unity and one of the most beautiful faces. of the country. This budget cut is not acceptable, it is a very bad message which is sent the day after the Olympic and Paralympic Games which we succeeded with so much commitment.

She recalls that the commitment of volunteers and educators is essential for sport to be a true vector of social cohesion and on which the unity displayed and claimed this summer depends. On the region's side, President Valérie Pécresse and her Vice-President in charge of Sports, Olympic and Paralympic Games, Leisure, Youth, Citizenship, city policy and community life, Patrick Karam have always defended a solid budget for sport with more than 105 million euros allocated to the development of the practice, renovation of equipment, support at high level in particular and validated for 2025.

The Senate, one of the last bulwarks against budget reduction

The situation seems to have made parliamentarians react. In a tense political context, the Senate rejected the government amendment relating to the budget cut and adopted the one proposed by Senator Michel Savin, requesting a transfer of 80 million euros from the National Universe Servicel towards the sports mission. This decision is a partial victory for the sports movement, but the final outcome will depend on the joint committee. The next few weeks will be decisive in understanding whether sport, and consequently the future of many associations and local structures, can continue to develop and be established as a facilitating, innovative and unifying player for an entire nation.

The sports budget file falls into the hands of Marie Barsacq, recently appointed Minister of Sports, Youth and Community Life. While her political career begins on a minefield, she will have to navigate between the expectations of local sports stakeholders and the budgetary imperatives of the State. How can we ignore the voice of territories, associations and this youth in search of guidance?

It is not simply a question of figures and finances, but of a vision of society that must be supported and imposed. Reducing the sports budget undermines this collective ambition, that of a sport that unites, unites and transforms. By drastically reducing the resources allocated to the sector, it is sport for all, the one which supports local initiatives, which helps individuals grow and which has a positive impact on our society, which is fragile.

The sports movement must continue to make itself heard, to fight so that sport, beyond major competitions, remains a vector of social bond, personal development and solidarity. This is a great national cause. This is not an announcement effect, it is a daily collective fight for the general interest. And societal.