Senators are a little more optimistic this spring than they were this fall about the Olympic and Paralympic Games (OPG). Especially with regard to the balanced budget of Paris 2024, the Organizing Committee, one of the two structures set up (with Solideo, for the construction part) for the organization of the event. “There shouldn’t be too many bad surprises”, argues Claude Kern (Centrist Union), co-rapporteur (with the socialist David Assouline) of the information mission on the JOP, created in the fall of 2022 by the Culture, Education and Communication Committee of the Senate.
« The work that has been done to control expenditure and increase revenue is to be commended, as it has made it possible to avoid the worst-case scenario, namely a Games deficit which would ultimately have to be borne by the taxpayer “, adds Mr. Kern who presented, on May 17, a first stage communication of the work of the fact-finding mission.
In December 2022, Paris 2024, faced with a funding shortfall of around 400 million euros due to an increase in its projected expenditure (impact of inflation, but also under-evaluation of the amount of expenditure or omission of certain expenditure items) had adopted a number of measures to rebalance its accounts. On this occasion, the State and the local authorities directly concerned by the JOP provided an additional 70 million and 41 million euros respectively.
“Uncertainties” on the transfer of charges to the State
However, the senators are not to the point of saying they are totally reassured. Mr. Kern thus evokes “ still some uncertainties, citing the Court of Auditors, which, in a report on the organization of the JOP, published in January, mentioned “certain ‘weightless’ expenses”. In particular those relating to “many transfers of charges which are made in terms of transport and security”.
In these two areas, a certain number of services will indeed have to be provided by the State and it will, theoretically, be up to Paris 2024 to assume part of the financial burden. “The deputy mayor of Paris in charge of the Games considered that the city would be able, at the beginning of 2024, to quantify the additional cost induced by the Games in terms of safety and cleanliness due, in particular, to the need to maintain the service during the summer period, explained Mr. Kern, for example.
“The work of cost control today requires that all expenses be clearly identified site by site, taking into account the transfer of charges”, considers the senator, while insisting that he is « indispensable » that the Games Organizing Committee “assumes the entire financial burden of the public resources that should be mobilized within the perimeter for which it is responsible”.
The Court of Auditors, which, in its report published in January, had not had time to assess the Paris 2024 budget reassessment presented in December, should submit a report in June. And therefore confirm, or not, the reality of the balanced budget which is officially targeted.
Ticket office: “The price increase was probably inevitable to preserve the balance of the budget”
In their progress communication on the follow-up to the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Senators Claude Kern and David Assouline recall that the increase in ticket prices was one of the choices made, in December 2022, by Paris 2024 to preserve the balanced budget. They consider that this “was probably unavoidable in order to finance the Games and preserve a balanced budget”. However, “we note with regret that the objective of having popular Games will not be achieved”they add.