PARIS (Reuters) – Emmanuel Macron chaired an Olympic and Paralympic Council at the Elysee Palace on Monday to ensure the proper level of preparation for the Paris Games, two years from the sporting event that will put France under the eye of the cameras around the world.
With the approach of the planetary meeting, scheduled from July 26 to August 11, 2024, the Head of State wanted everyone to “measure the rather exceptional importance of what the Olympic and Paralympic Games represent in France by their scale, their audience, their social, cultural and economic impact, in particular on the country’s image in the world,” said the Elysée.
Fourteen ministers took part, as well as the prefects concerned, the interministerial delegate Michel Cadot and the chairman of the Organizing Committee, Tony Estanguet.
While the Court of Auditors expressed concern in a report about the state of preparation for the Paris Olympics, the president “insisted a lot” on “doing things in a balanced budget that live up to the ambitions that we have collectively fixed.”
“We must accelerate or in any case continue to maintain the current speed, and anticipate any form of crisis and possible threat”, he added, while worried voices were raised after the security fiasco of the final of the Football Champions League at the Stade de France on May 28.
On the financial side, the provisional cost of the Games reaches 8.3 billion euros, against 6.8 billion presented in the candidacy phase.
The budget of the Olympic facilities delivery company (Solideo) is estimated at 4.3 billion euros in the projected budget for 2024. That of the Organizing Committee is around four billion, financed by private revenue (ticketing, partnerships , derived products, etc.).
Subsidies from the State and local authorities, which amount to approximately 1.7 billion in total including inflation, are currently 17 million higher than forecast, “which testifies to the seriousness of the forecasts and the good control of this budget envelope”, underlines the Elysée.
“THE BUDGET WILL BE HELD”, ASSURES THE ÉLYSÉE
To correct the discrepancies anticipated by the authors of various reports, the authorities hope to activate various levers, such as the search for new partnerships and the reduction of the period of availability of competition sites, which would make it possible to lower the amount of compensation for loss of ‘activity.
“The Games budget will be kept”, assures the Presidency of the Republic.
With regard to the delivery of the venues – 95% of which are existing or temporary -, the progress of work on the 25 structures in progress is in line with the approved program, which essentially provides for the construction of an Olympic village and a aquatic.
In terms of security, 17,500 agents will be needed to transport 800,000 people to the sites every day (200,000 accredited and 600,000 spectators), which requires a training and recruitment program, says the Elysée.
The necessary manpower, all needs included, is estimated at between 22,000 and 25,000 security guards per day.
The armies will be put to work: the French Navy will participate in the nautical events in Marseille and Tahiti and the Air Force will carry out anti-drone surveillance. Operation Sentinel will be strengthened, as will cybersecurity arrangements.
On the transport side, the Games must coincide with the extension of metro line 14 towards Saint-Denis-Pleyel in the North, and Orly in the South. A thousand taxis will also be made available to people with reduced mobility.
In terms of jobs created, the threshold of one million hours of work provided to people in integration has been crossed. About 1,500 people, including 47% from Seine-Saint-Denis, the poorest and youngest department in France, have benefited from it so far.
The “popular ticket office” set up plans to provide 50% of the tickets at less than 50 euros, some of which at the limited price of 24 euros.
The Olympic flame, which should cross a large part of France from mid-April to July 26, 2024, will arrive in Paris for the opening ceremony planned on and around the Seine, while that of the Paralympic Games is scheduled instead. of Concord.
In terms of security, the expectations of the police headquarters and the Ministry of the Interior for these two shows “lead us today to be completely reassuring and to rule out any hypothesis which would require a plan B”, assures the Elysium.
(Report Elizabeth Pineau, edited by Sophie Louet)