The Court of Auditors points to risks on transport and security
The Court of Auditors points to security and transport as “risks to be circumscribed” for Paris Olympics and also urges the organizing committee of the Olympic Games (Cojo) to accelerate the signing of certain contracts, in a report that AFP obtained on Monday before its publication.
This report, commissioned for a long time, which sweeps all the subjects, must be presented Tuesday to the Assembly and the Senate and published Wednesday. Dated January 2023, it does not however take into account the last Cojo budget revision of December 2022. Another report is planned for the first half of 2023.
20,000 private security agents needed
“The issues relating to safety and transport remain challenges to be met and must be the subject of particular vigilance by the public authorities and the organizing committee”, notes the Court.
On security, the Court of Auditors recommends “planning the use of internal security forces by ensuring a balance between covering the needs for the Games and those of security throughout the national”. It recommends “stabilizing private security needs and establishing alternative measures to remedy its probable shortcomings” because the need for private security agents, more than 20,000 at a minimum, is very likely not to be satisfied.
It recommends “finalizing the overall security plan for the Games before the end of the first half of 2023”.
“Tension” on transport
The security of the Olympic Games and that of the unprecedented opening ceremony on the Seine has been the subject of multiple meetings for two years and a distribution of responsibilities between the State, the organizing committee and the communities.
Regarding transport in Ile de France, “some projects present at this stage uncertainties on their delivery time and reinforce the tension on the existing transport network”. “Several infrastructure operations (…) present major risks due to already tight schedules and no real room for manoeuvre,” she notes, referring to Eole and the redevelopment of Porte Maillot.
“If they weren’t finished for the Games, the result would be an unsustainable tension on the heavily used lines, with the associated risks of incidents and congestion for daily users. Such phenomena contributed to greatly degrading the acceptability of the event for the population, ”she further notes.
Regarding the Cojo, which increased its budget by 10% in December, to 4,380 billion euros, the Court exposes several criticisms. She first reports the delay in signing contracts with equipment, such as the Stade de France, which will be used for the Olympics.
“Operational and financial risk”
“At the beginning of November 2022, only eleven of the 80 user agreements would have been signed (…). These successive delays now expose the committee to a proven risk, due to the resulting chain consequences on the preparation of the Games and, in particular, for the conclusion of the negotiations on the outsourced model of delivery of the Games”, worries the Court, requesting that these agreements be created at the beginning of 2023. It mentions “an operational risk and a financial risk”.
For her there are many “substantial uncertainties about the final balance of the Cojo’s budget”. She criticizes him in particular for having drawn 115 million euros from his reserve of 315 million, because this amounts to “deferring the savings measures likely to be taken planned”.
Although the Cojo is an association under the 1901 law which operates with private funds, the State acts as guarantor in the event of a deficit.
Furthermore, the Court notes that in the current state, between the budget lines of the Cojo, the Solideo (responsible for permanent works), the expenditure of the communities and that of the State which have not yet been fixed, it does not is unable to calculate the real cost of the Olympic Games and “its total impact on public finances”.