She was questioned first time on the subject, then a second time. Twice, she dodged and did not directly answer the question asked of her. Monday, December 11, during the examination by the Senate in public session of the appropriations for sport for 2024, which concluded with a negative vote, the Minister of Sports and the Olympic and Paralympic Games (JOP), Amélie Oudéa- Castéra was put under pressure.

The subject of the senators’ questioning: the fate that the government intends to reserve for the amendment, adopted by the Senate on November 29, raising the amount of taxes levied on sports betting by 38.8 million euros in order to finance the public policies regarding sport.

“The decisions will be made by the Prime Minister,” Ms. Oudéa-Castéra simply declared. On October 25, in front of the same senators, she declared that she was “not ruling out this discussion at all for the future”, in the name of “a very important principle which is that sport finances sport”. .

The objective of the senators, by directing towards the National Sports Agency (ANS) a greater proportion of revenue from taxes levied on sports betting, is to ensure that the agency can “better finance” the necessary investments to renovate or build structuring sports facilities (swimming pools, gymnasiums, stadiums), while the President of the Republic called for “making France a sporting nation”.

There is, however, little doubt about the outcome of the senatorial amendment. An amendment along the same lines, voted in mid-October by the deputies, was not retained in the text of the finance law that the government had imposed by bringing into play article 49.3.

“Who has done this before? »

Behind this subject of taxes allocated to the ANS, it is in fact the broader one of the materialization of the government’s speech in terms of support for the practice of sport which is posed, many senators – from the right, were keen to point out. , left or center.

While France is preparing to host the Games and sport has been declared a major national cause in 2024, “the funds are not up to the needs, the means are not there”, lamented Michel Savin (Les Républicains), just like the socialists Jean-Jacques Lozach and Patrick Kanner, or the centrist Claude Kern.

All were aimed at both the total appropriations planned for sport and those more specifically planned for sports equipment. On this last point, “the State is proposing 50 million euros per year over the next three years for structuring sports infrastructures: this is not up to the needs,” insisted Mr. Savin.

“Unprecedented amount”, “Who has done this before? » … A former tennis player, Ms. Oudéa-Castéra did not hesitate to increase the number of times she climbed the net to defend the government’s action and the resources involved.

“Never has a government pursued such an ambitious sports policy,” she insisted, referring to the sports ministry’s appropriations “up 68% since 2020.” Emmanuel Macron’s first five-year term, however, began with a drop in funding for sport.

“Let’s stop the policy of small steps”

“No government has ever made this type of investment,” insisted Ms. Oudéa-Castéra about the aid put in place for communities for the construction or renovation of sports equipment. She recalled the 200 million euros devoted in 2022 and 2023 to a plan to create 5,000 local facilities (multi-sport fields, 3 × 3 basketball courts, skate parks, etc.). She also recalled that this plan will be followed, from January 2024, by a new plan to create and renovate 5,000 pieces of equipment, for 300 million euros (of which 150 million will go to structuring equipment).

“By 2027, we will have committed 1 billion euros to the construction and renovation of sports facilities, 1.7 billion from the Green Fund and local support funds,” argued the minister. . His additions were not convincing. “Let’s stop the policy of small steps,” urged Michel Savin, calling for the implementation of “a Marshall Plan.” That is to say a programming law offering “a quality and secure financial path, with a clear multi-year vision”, a “long-term dynamic”, added Claude Kern (Centrist Union).

Listening to the latter, however, this is not the trend: “the trajectory” of credits in favor of sport (excluding those allocated to the Olympics) is “worrying”, he estimated, pointing to “a decline from 2025” . The public finance programming law for the years 2024 to 2027 notes 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,” however, said Ms. Oudéa-Castéra.