Will the Olympic Games cost French taxpayers dearly? The Minister of Sports and Olympics, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, assured deputies this Tuesday, April 2, in the evening, that there was “no hidden cost or budgetary drift” regarding the bill for Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris. “These Olympics are the least expensive since Sydney (2000, Editor’s note),” she assured.
For the moment, the total bill for the Games is 8.8 billion euros, 4.4 billion euros for the organizing committee (made up of ticket revenue, the IOC contribution and sponsor revenue) and 4.4 billion euros for infrastructure (including 1.7 billion euros public).
A week earlier, the president of the Court of Auditors, Pierre Moscovici, indicated that the Paris Olympic Games “should cost” between three and five billion euros of public money, specifying that the invoice would only be known after the event (July 26-August 11). Indeed, certain public costs are not yet known, such as that of security provided by the State. The minister assured that “fine evaluation work” was underway, ministry by ministry, with regard to state spending, during this question session dedicated to the Olympics at the request of the LR group.
Asked about the delicate situation of the French group Atos, partner of the IOC and Cojo, in full disarray, and which must provide cybersecurity services in particular, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra indicated that the situation was being viewed with “vigilance”, in concert with the French IT Security Agency (Anssi).
Asked about security and external reinforcement in police and military personnel, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra clarified that in addition to the dog brigades, given the lack of sniffer dogs, there were also requests from “motorcyclists”, “equestrian brigades” , “document fraud experts”, or even “anti-drone fight specialists” in particular. “At the end of March, 35 States responded favorably for reinforcements, particularly on dog technical risks,” she said. In total, “around forty foreign military dog teams will reinforce the system.”