A trip certainly aimed at extinguishing certain doubts. Emmanuel Macron will go this Wednesday, July 24, before the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Paris to support France’s candidacy for the 2030 Winter Olympic Games, a source close to the matter announced to AFP this Tuesday.
The 142nd IOC session is supposed to officially award, by a double vote on Wednesday, the 2030 Winter Olympics to the French Alps, the only ones in the running, and those of 2034 to the American city of Salt Lake City, already host of the 2002 edition. But the political crisis in France complicates the situation, the government, resigning, being unable to provide certain guarantees demanded by the Olympic organization.
Above all, this concerns the guarantee of delivery of the Games, which falls within the remit of the government – and not that of the President of the Republic – and must therefore be materialised by the signature of the Prime Minister, before being voted on by Parliament with the finance law.
The French bid was unable to provide two documents required by the Olympic organization: the guarantee of delivery of the Games, which must be signed by the Prime Minister, and the “partnership contribution to the organization budget” between the State and the two regions Rhône Alpes-Auvergne and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur. The French bid, preferred last November to Sweden and Switzerland, was led in a few months by Laurent Wauquiez (LR) and Renaud Muselier (Renaissance), the heads of these two regions, with the strong support of the Elysée.
“The political situation makes things a little more complicated”
This Saturday, July 20, the International Olympic Committee called for patience in the face of uncertainties over the expected designation of the French Alps to host the 2030 Winter Olympics. “The political situation makes things a little more complicated,” admitted Mark Adams, the IOC spokesperson, during a press conference after the final meeting of the executive board before the Paris Games.
But last week, IOC boss Thomas Bach clearly reiterated his position to the newspaper. The Team : “Without a guarantee, we cannot make an unconditional decision on the award of the Games. All stakeholders are aware of this.”
Asked about a possible postponement of this election, Mark Adams recalled that there were still a few “days of work” between now and the session and that the “conversation” with the French candidacy was continuing. “I invite you to wait,” he concluded.
A partial approval?
Without these documents delivered by Wednesday, July 24, could the Olympic body reject the French file and inflict a stinging humiliation on the host country two days before the Paris Games (July 26 – August 11)? No one in the Olympic world is currently considering such an outcome, especially since the IOC had clearly put Sweden and Switzerland out of the running for 2030 last November, notably due to a lack of… sufficient public commitments.
The IOC has every discretion to postpone the vote, for example by calling an extraordinary session in the autumn as soon as the French guarantees are in its hands. Thomas Bach had also left open the possibility of a partial approval as early as next week. “If there are still details to be settled, we need to know what conditions would still have to be met. These are different scenarios, we have to wait,” he explained to The TeamIn this sense, Emmanuel Macron’s trip to the IOC will certainly aim to calm the slight doubts that have begun to emerge.