Paris Mayor Says 2024 Bid Decision not Before January
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo said Friday a decision on whether to bid for the 2024 summer Olympic Games, which President Francois Hollande eagerly supports, would not be made before January.
Keen to breathe some enthusiasm and confidence into a country gripped by a gloom-inducing, job-sucking economic crisis, Hollande said Thursday he was in favor of bidding for the global sporting event, describing it as important for a "capital of culture".
But Hidalgo, whose job it is to decide whether or not to go for the Olympics, quickly tempered his enthusiasm Friday when she reminded reporters that the conclusions of working groups studying the feasibility of a bid would be made in January.
"I will stick to this schedule and I invite everyone to respect it like I do," she said.
Hidalgo is extremely reticent to put in a bid.
Earlier this year, she said: "We are in a financial and budgetary position today that does not allow me to say that I am making this bid.
"Parisians expect housing, equipment, justice, economic ease from me."
She reminded reporters Friday that the French capital had already submitted three failed bids for the Summer Games that were instead won by Athens in 2004, Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012.
"Having dreams is good, realizing them is even better," she said.
- Formidable rivals for 2024 -
But Hollande, who also threw his support behind hosting the 2025 World Expo, said the two mammoth events could have a positive impact on the economy by building "lots of equipment", creating "lots of jobs" and the possibility for "lots of industries" to show their know-how.
"France needs to project itself into the future," he said.
Junior Sports Minister Thierry Braillard also waded into the debate on Friday, saying hosting the 2024 Olympics would not entail huge costs.
"We are lucky to have infrastructure which means that if we decided to bid, there would be no need for much investment where infrastructure is concerned as it already exists," he said.
"The only investment would be on the Olympic village, which could become social housing or housing for students, and on transport infrastructure."
The last time France held an Olympics event was in 1992 when Albertville hosted the Winter Games, and it has not hosted a summer version of the sportsfest since 1924.
But if it decided to bid for 2024, Paris's potential rivals would be formidable -- Hamburg, Berlin, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, Milan and Rome are all reportedly interested.
With regards to the 2025 World Expo, parliamentarians have already voiced their support for a bid as has Prime Minister Manuel Valls -- and there are doubts that the French capital would want to host both mega events.
Source: Agence France Presse
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/154461 |