2030 Olympics: Olympic bill presented to the Council of Ministers, a new milestone reached for the French Alps

The Olympic Bill, an essential legislative framework for hosting the 2030 Winter Olympic Games in the French Alps, was presented to the Council of Ministers on Thursday, May 15, by Sports Minister Marie Barsacq. The bill contains 37 articles, the vast majority of which are directly inspired by the 2018 and 2023 Olympic laws that will apply to the Paris 2024 Games.

The provisions it contains aim in particular to adapt French legislation to ensure the proper preparation of the Olympic and Paralympic events which will take place in just under five years from Grand-Bornand (Haute-Savoie) to Nice. "The Olympic bill is a key step in their preparation. It is in line with the experience acquired with the Paris 2024 Games, by taking up the measures which have proven their worth, while adapting them to the specific characteristics of mountain areas," said ^Ms Barsacq.

The text should notably facilitate the work supervised by Solideo (the public company responsible for infrastructure delivery) for all the equipment needed for the Games by simplifying urban planning and land use procedures – such as speeding up expropriation processes – and in the area of ​​public procurement. The first building permit applications are due to be submitted in 2027, according to a source close to the matter.

The bill also provides, as for the Paris 2024 Games, for the creation of Olympic routes, but also the framework within which the organizers of the Olympic Games can occupy public land or the extension of Sunday work in communities that organize competitions. On this last point, "the needs are currently being defined," notes the Interministerial Directorate for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Dijop), adding that "representatives of the social partners will sit on the boards of directors of Solideo and the Organizing Committee [Cojop]. "

The security aspect is the subject of specific measures, "which draw lessons from 2024," observes the Dijop. It is thus planned to continue the use of algorithmic video surveillance, used, for example, to warn of crowd movements or the presence of an unconscious person on the ground. The system, which was the subject of an experiment initially planned until the end of March, was recently extended until 2027 by parliamentarians, despite a mixed initial assessment.

The Olympic bill also contains provisions relating to the implementation of the host contract that binds the French organizers of the Games (the State, the two host regions – Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur – the National Olympic and Paralympic Committees) to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the owner of the Games. The text also defines the scope of the jurisdiction of the Court of Auditors and the French Anti-Corruption Agency in monitoring ethics and integrity procedures at Solideo and Cojop. It also provides, among other measures, for strengthening the powers of the French Anti-Doping Agency and for bringing national legislation into line with the World Anti-Doping Code.

The measures provided for in the Olympic bill read like a Prévert-style inventory – it is impossible to list them all here – but they are essential to the implementation of the French Alps 2030 project. Without this framework, which derogates from common law, it would be impossible to organize the Games. Opponents, for their part, speak of an unacceptable submission of national law to the conditions demanded by the IOC, a simple association under Swiss law .

The Olympic bill is due to be examined by the Senate at the end of June, then by the National Assembly at the start of the school year, before its adoption is expected by the end of the year. "We need this law. It must not arrive too late," argues a government source, who nevertheless remains confident: the provisions it contains, adopted mainly for the 2024 Games, he argues, "are not likely to raise unusual opposition."