Before the publication, Wednesday, of its report on the organization of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (JOP) of Paris 2024, the Court of Auditors presented, Tuesday, January 10, its conclusions to the Senate then to the National Assembly. Without speaking about ” alarm signal “the senators however see in the 130-page document drawn up by the financial jurisdiction ” caution ” towards the various players in the Games, first and foremost the Organizing Committee (Cojop).
Senator (Socialist) of Lozère, Jean-Jacques Lozach is particularly worried about the level of spending on security, especially for the Olympic opening ceremony, of which “the overall cost is not yet determined”. Up to 35,000 security forces could be mobilized for the parade along 6 km of banks of the Seine and in front of 600,000 spectators.
Mr. Lozach also says he is vigilant about the mobilization of funds from local authorities involved in the Games, invited in recent months to extend their financial participation according to budget revisions. “Have we reached a red line with local authorities? If we call on them again, it would be an admission of failure.supports the member of the Senate study group on sports practices and major sporting events.
“No Guarantee”
“Today, we have no guarantee on the amount of expenditure [du Cojop] nor on that of receipts”supports for his part Michel Savin, senator (Les Républicains) of Isère.
The vice-president of the Senate’s culture committee also says he is concerned about the failure of Paris 2024 to sign the contract to provide the Stade de France for the Games, a point noted in his report by the Court of Auditors . However, the operating loss for the consortium that manages the enclosure (a subsidiary of Vinci and Bouygues) “is in the tens of millions of euros”.
Mr. Savin also points out “the fragility of the legal framework” of the 45,000 volunteers required to assist Cojop in organizing the Games. The senator from Isère is studying the possibility of introducing an amendment to strengthen it during the examination of the Olympic bill from January 24 in the Senate.