The year 2024 has been declared a year of great national cause for sports practice in the run-up to the Olympic and Paralympic Games (JOP) in Paris. However, it will be marked by cuts in the expenditure that the French State devotes to public policies in favor of sport.
As part of the 10 billion euro savings plan on state spending this year, announced on February 18 by the Minister of the Economy and Finance, Bruno Le Maire, the Ministry of Sports and JOPs will therefore have to do without 50.5 million euros in funding, out of a total budget of 1.02 billion euros, according to the decree canceling credits, published in the Official Journal on February 22.
The way in which these 50.5 million euros in savings will be made has not yet been communicated, but one thing seems certain: there is a priori no question of touching the credits intended for the JOPs. This is what was suggested at the beginning of the week by those around the minister, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, while explaining that they had started to look at what proposals could be made at Bercy.
Credits allocated to the preparation of the event itself (financing paid to the Olympic Works Delivery Company for example, or the purchase of tickets, etc.), as well as those concerning the preparation of athletes French (the Gagner en France program, which should place them in the best conditions, bonuses for medalists, etc.) would thus be spared. In the 2024 budget, these credits initially represented just over 180 million euros.
Concerns about the evolution of credits in favor of sport after the Olympics
The cut should mainly concern credits from the state budget intended for public policies to promote sport (710 million euros initially planned). The ministry could, for example, adjust the pace of disbursement of certain credits – that is to say, postpone payments.
This could be the case for the Generation 2024 plan, an extension of the plan for the creation and renovation of sports facilities launched in 2021, which should benefit from an envelope of 100 million euros per year for three years (after 200 million euros in total paid in 2021 and 2022). However, this is not, for the moment, an option that the ministry wishes to pursue.
These budgetary restrictions come at a time when questions and even concerns have arisen in recent months about the evolution of funds for sport after the Games. The public finance programming law for the years 2024 to 2027 thus records a reduction of 130 million euros in 2025 and 2026 in payment credits in favor of sport from the general State budget. “There is no withdrawal planned after 2024,” Ms. Oudéa-Castéra has said several times.
