Two hours under intense scrutiny. On Wednesday, the Senate's Committee on Culture, Education, Communication and Sport held a hearing with Edgar Grospiron, president of the Organizing Committee for the 2030 French Alps Olympic and Paralympic Games (COJOP), and Pierre-Antoine Molina, interministerial delegate for the Games. On the agenda: the governance crisis at COJOP and questions about its ability to meet deadlines and stay within budget. It seems more than time to move beyond internal organizational problems and enter the operational phase of designing and delivering the Games, and finally make the necessary decisions to move the project forward. " said the chairman of the commission, Laurent Lafon, in his opening remarks. What should we take away from this?
"A pivotal moment"
Appearing via videoconference, Edgar Grospiron said he very aware of the legitimate expectations and questions He acknowledges that the organization went through crises "and provided justifications for the recent departures within the COJOP." These are problems that are, initially, organizational. "He explains, referring to the difficulty of managing the committee's 12 departments." It was quite complicated (…) and when you don't have the time, you don't necessarily delve deeply into the issues. The organization lacked robustness. People tended to stay in their own lanes, without working collectively, and so that may explain some of the resignations. "Others" did not meet the requirements set by the general manager ».
« As soon as we identified the difficulties, we sought to resolve them. (…) My priority now is to ensure the solidity and robustness of the organization and the proper execution of the project, while respecting the schedule and the commitments that have been made. He adds. " We are at a pivotal moment. Following the Milan-Cortina Paralympic Games, the Organizing Committee will have had a successful first year. This is a milestone in terms of organization, human resources, and the structuring of our governance. In this sense, Etienne Thobois' mission should allow us to prepare ourselves for this strategic planning phase. which will last until the Los Angeles 2028 Games.
Citizens consulted in April
Edgar Grospiron believes that the COJOP (Paris 2024 Organizing Committee) has fallen approximately two months behind schedule in the organizational aspects due to these turbulent events. Today, the decisions have been made and the processes to restructure our organization are underway. " he insists. The delay is somewhat more significant on the map of sites." We're about four months behind schedule, but that's only four months on 15% of our site map. We know 85% of our map and we're working on it. The remaining 15% concerns the distribution of alpine skiing between Courchevel and Val d'Isère, the speed oval, the Paralympic events which we're trying to bring together at a single site in Savoie, and finally the additional sports. »
For these topics, see you in June. By then, the vision, emblem, and visual identity of the 2030 Winter Games will have been presented. The IOC has approved them. " Grospiron specifies, and Legal validations are in progress The revelation will take place in the coming weeks, the coming months Another box will soon be ticked regarding citizen consultation. a subject on which the COJOP is under pressure that holds the top spot. " The initial consultations were conducted primarily at the institutional level, and starting at the end of April, we will begin consultations with citizens. We will start to engage more closely with citizens; this is important for us because this project needs to be explained. »
"Very positive" discussions with potential partners
Edgar Grospiron was also questioned about the financing of the Games and the objective of securing €591 million in private partnerships. An objective " realistic “, he assures. “ This is an area I'm very focused on. Cyrille Groll, the revenue director, and I were in Milan-Cortina to explore new revenue opportunities. We've launched six partnership categories, and within each category, we're having fruitful discussions with several French companies. Last week, we signed the joint marketing agreement with the IOC, which will allow us to finalize the partnerships. We're currently experiencing very positive momentum regarding these discussions and the progress of these partnerships. »
He acknowledges that the recent turbulence do not allow the conditions to be created to sign now ", but remains optimistic: the new organizational chart will allow for to ensure that the organization is robust and to put an end to what he calls " the media saga ", in order to " to be able to highlight what works He also stated that there had never been any question of him leaving his position, despite the rumors. One sentence sums up this hearing: All issues are progressing, despite the governance difficulties we have experienced. »
