France will soon host a new Olympic Games, six years after those held this summer in Paris. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) awarded the 2030 Winter Olympics to the French Alps “under certain conditions” on Wednesday 24 July.
The only country in the running since it supplanted Sweden and Switzerland last November, France “will organise the 26th Winter Games” subject to providing financial guarantees from the State and the regions, announced IOC President Thomas Bach, without giving details of the result of the vote.
While the current government is responsible for “current affairs”, the future Prime Minister will have to provide the IOC with the State guarantee “before October 1”, Mr. Bach said. This guarantee will have to be ratified by parliament “no later than March 1”. The body voted following an intervention by the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron, who came in person to defend France’s candidacy, two days before the opening of the Summer Olympics in Paris.
“I confirm my commitment and my total commitment and the total commitment of the French nation,” he said, in English, adding that he would “ask the next prime minister not only to include this guarantee but also to enact an Olympic law.”
Due to the recent dissolution and the election results, the financial guarantee that must complete the IOC file and must come from the Prime Minister could not be provided by France. IOC President Thomas Bach warned on Tuesday evening that there could not be, as initially planned a few weeks ago, an unconditional vote “without confirmed guarantees”. And IOC Vice-President John Coates warned on Wednesday that the IOC would not sign “the host city contract until the guarantees are received”.
After the vote, Emmanuel Macron returned to the podium to thank the IOC members for “the confidence shown today by (their) votes” and “to reiterate with great determination the fact that we will be there, at the rendezvous”. On X, he thanked the IOC for “its confidence in our country and its mountain”.
“Congratulations to the elected officials and stakeholders who worked for this success,” reacted the French president on X. “It’s official: the dream is becoming reality!”, rejoiced the president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region (central-east) Laurent Wauquiez.