France is preparing to Olympic games, but the success is far from assured

In France, despite the enthusiasm, some have doubts that the Olympic Games will be that big a success, so much so that Macron himself had to intervene on the matter.

“The two billion euros the nation has invested will be repaid,” Emmanuel Macron assured BFMTV/RMC in an interview before visiting the Grand Palais Olympic site 100 days before the opening ceremony of the Paris Games.

Although the total cost and economic returns have not yet been quantified precisely, the Head of State said that “these investments will be profitable because they will be sustainable; they have generated activity.”

Referring to the figure of “more than 6 billion euros” generated by the Games, thanks to the mobilization of “more than 2,000 companies” (ed. note: according to Paris 2024, 2,200 companies have been selected for contracts), he stressed that the Games have “created jobs.”

By Paris 2024 later this month, an updated economic impact study will be made public; the previous one dates back to 2017. Seven years ago, the organizing committee had talked about three scenarios, with a high end of 10.7 billion euros and a low end of 5.3 billion euros.

This top figure is likely to be revised downward, according to several sports economists, who speak of a figure below the symbolic 10 billion threshold.

‘No white elephant’

Emmanuel Macron stressed that “there will be no white elephants,” referring to the sometimes oversized Olympic venues that are abandoned after the Games, as in Rio, and which are the cause of frequent budget slippages. He insisted on the legacy “delivered on time and on budget” by Solideo, the public entity providing the 70 Olympic facilities.

The “exceptional Olympic village,” built in Saint-Denis, Saint-Ouen and Ile-Saint-Denis, which will house the 14,500 athletes during the sporting events, will leave the region with “more than 4,000 homes, social housing, offices and jobs in neighborhoods that need them so badly.”

“We have no major facilities that will not be used after the Games,” the Head of State insisted, citing as an example the Saint-Denis Olympic Aquatic Center, which “will remain a pool for schools and associations.”

The same goes for “the dozens of water sports centers on the Seine and Marne rivers” that will be built as legacies thanks to work to make the two rivers, where some of the Olympic events will be held, swimmable.

Meanwhile, however, France is a powder keg

Meanwhile, France is a powder keg, and still, last week, there were heavy protests by farmers.

Action des #agriculteurs devant la préfecture à Valence pour dénoncer les promesses non tenues du gouvernement faites suite aux blocages des autoroutes fin janvier. #AgriculteursEnColère #FarmersProtest pic.twitter.com/ZjWSGqu93Y

— Anonyme Citoyen (@AnonymeCitoyen) April 12, 2024

In addition, 3200 students had to leave their rooms because they were scheduled to become part of the Olympic village during the event.

The Olympic Games will be a great showcase for Macron’s great ambition and enrome conceit, but they also risk being the straw that breaks the back of the French people. Senca says that the six billion in revenues are all to be seen