It was to be expected: political instability in France and the interminable saga of the governance of the organizing committee for the 2030 Winter Games in the French Alps are starting to worry Lausanne. As evidence, this unplanned meeting, organized last Tuesday in Paris, between the IOC and the main players in France, including David Lappartient for the CNOSF, Marie-Amélie Le Fur for the CPSF, Laurent Wauquiez and Fabrice Pannekoucke for the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region (AURA), and Pierre-Antoine Molina, the new interministerial delegate for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Proof of the importance of this exchange at the summit: the IOC had delegated Christophe De Kepper, the director general, and Christophe Dubi, the director of the Olympic Games.
Another guest: Michel Barnier, the former Prime Minister (photo above), who resigned at the beginning of the month. His presence was anything but formal, since it was decided during the meeting to entrust him with a major role in the coming weeks. The former co-president of the 1992 Albertville Winter Games will be responsible for a " voluntary and temporary prefiguration mission as a representative of the IOC to support the creation of the COJOP”.
A rather enigmatic formulation to designate a task that was much more complex than expected: finding a boss for the organizing committee. According to the host city contract signed with the IOC on July 24, France had five months to create an organizing committee. It should therefore have seen the light of day no later than December 24.
It is now a given that the deadline will not be met, but the IOC has granted the parties involved an additional month to complete the matter. Comment from Fabrice Pannekoucke, President of the AURA region: " The IOC trusts us, but with vigilance ».
Another piece of news from the French Alps, not much more encouraging: the projected deficit for the 2030 Winter Games could turn out to be significantly higher than initially estimated.
According to a report from the Inspectorate of Finance commissioned by Michel Barnier during his time at Matignon, revealed by France 2 et FranceInfo, the Olympic and Paralympic event could actually leave a slate of 900 million euros.
