Paris 2024: Court of Auditors impatient over inability to assess impact of Games on public finances

Said in very Cour des comptes language. But this does not hide irritation. The Financial Magistrates are anxious not to be yet “Can estimate total value” Olympic and Paralympic Games (OPG) and “Final Impact” What they will have on public finances in general, along with state and local government.

“The court reiterates its recommendation that beyond Solideo’s financial model [la société chargée de la construction des sites olympiques] and Kojop’s budget [le Comité d’organisation des Jeux], All investment and operating costs incurred for the Games and games are consolidated”write the magistrates in a new report on the preparation of the JOP submitted to the Parliament.

At least 3 billion euros

The Court of Auditors has already expressed concern in a previous report on the Games submitted to the Parliament and made public in January. “The absence of a comprehensive and accurate description of their associated investment and operating costs in the state as well as in the host communities.”.

However, the first president of the financial institution, Pierre Moscovici, gave an initial estimate during a hearing in the Senate in January: he calculated the share of the public at 2.4 billion euros, at this point, in the budgets of Solideo and Cojop. , including €1.3 billion for the state and €1.1 billion for local authorities.

He estimated that the final cost to public finances “Could be closer to 3 billion euros”Among them, in particular “Tax, security, health and transport costs”, which are not in the budgets of Cojop and Solidéo.

Mr. Moscovici also specified that the Court of Auditors “ In connection with the regional accounting chambers, he will be interested in the expenses of the local government. Participates in the organization of games.

The value of Games security to the state “remains to be determined.”

Nevertheless, the costs related to security, for example, which will be borne by the state, are still not clearly defined. “Regarding the state budget, the monitoring of the security cost of the games remains to be determined. write the Financial Magistrates in their latest report.

The latter regrets that this is not the topic “Since then, no specific progress has been made” January. “No progress has been made in identifying public spending outside Solideo and Cojop budgets and local government budgets.”They will add.