Each week, its new stories, its twists and turns and its quarrels between actors. Eight months before the Olympic Games, Paris seems to be tearing itself apart more as the party and the bills approach. “Does the French capital really want to host the 2024 Summer Olympic Games? Given the fights between the municipality and the French state, we may end up doubting it,” asks the Swiss information site Blick, emphasizing an “unbelievable but true…” scenario.
In recent weeks, it is especially the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, who has attracted the attention of the foreign press. After his controversial trip to Tahiti, made both to supervise the Olympic surfing facilities and for family reasons, the city councilor assured that “Parisian transport will not be ready” for the Games, thus placing the blame on the Ministry of Transport and the Ile-de-France region.
“Clearly, summarizes Blick, the knives are out and the passengers risk paying the price, literally and figuratively.” During the Games, the cost of public transport will almost double, although free transport was part of the Parisian bid in 2015… A detail far from escaping the British press, The Daily Telegraph emphasizing that “for tourists, crossing Paris during the Games will not only be more complex but also much more expensive”.
The security situation is also attracting attention abroad. On the other side of the Atlantic, the Argentinian newspaper Clarin evoked “the incredible situation in which Parisians will find themselves during the Olympics”, detailing the obligation for local residents wishing to travel near the Seine to have a QR Code and also to indicate to the authorities the name of their guests during the opening ceremony. “Parisians are worried, the 2024 Olympic Games will make them hostages to security and the fear of an attack,” estimates the Buenos Aires daily.