the path of a Michel Barnier-Martin Fourcade duo to chair the Organizing Committee – Libération

Barely dismissed from his role as Prime Minister, the Savoyard could bounce back to the presidency of the Organizing Committee of the Games, in a duo with the multi-medalist biathlete. A position he already held during the Albertville 1992 Olympic Games.

It is an understatement to say that the nomination for the presidency of the organizing committee for the Winter Olympic Games (Cojo) is slipping. Each week has its sudden changes, its endless negotiations and the impossible agreement around a name. In recent days, the scenario has evolved again but, this time, a two-headed governance project seems to stand out: a duo with Martin Fourcade at the head of the organizing committee, accompanied for the first months by Michel Barnier, recently dismissed as Prime Minister .

Tuesday, December 17, four days after the handover of power with François Bayrou to Matignon, the former Les Républicains deputy returned to the courtyard of 57, rue de Varenne, this time to discuss the Winter Games. Around the table, a small circle of people very involved in the issue: Laurent Wauquiez, the former president (LR) of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region who became special advisor to the community on the subject, a representative of Provence- Alpes-Côte d’Azur, the new interministerial delegate to the Olympic Games Pierre-Antoine Molina, and the presidents of the French Olympic and Paralympic committees: David Lappartient and Marie-Amélie Le Fur.

Proof that time is running out: this hastily organized meeting also included two representatives of the IOC, Christophe Dubi, the executive director of the Olympic Games with the body, and its general director, Christophe De Kepper. During the discussions, the name of the 73-year-old Savoyard was mentioned to inherit a “volunteer and temporary prefiguration mission as representative of the IOC to support the creation of Cojop”, slips someone close to the negotiations.

Roadmap

During his lease at Matignon, Michel Barnier always kept the Alps 2030 file at the top of the pile. At the end of November, when the white smoke for the Cojo seemed to be imminent, Barnier received Fourcade at the Elysée to discuss the upcoming mandate, discuss the road map for the next six years, and settle a thorny question: the salary of the former biathlete, who should receive the sum of 200,000 euros monthly according to Ski Chrono (i.e. less than the 270,000 that Tony Estanguet received). According to France Info, Michel Barnier contacted the Finance Inspectorate the day before the censorship, on December 4, with the objective of reducing the costs of the Olympic Games below 2 billion euros, a sign if he is that he already seems to have one foot in the matter.

The former head of government can demonstrate his knowledge of the region, whose political career saw him serve as president of the Savoy regional council and Savoyard deputy. Above all, he knows the role of president of the Cojo better than anyone, having held it himself in a duo with Jean-Claude Killy during the Albertville Olympics in 1992. The last ones organized on French snow.

As long as the tandem materializes – Fourcade would not be very enthusiastic according to the Team – this would be synonymous with failure for Laurent Wauquiez, he who has defended from the start the candidacy of another biathlete, Vincent Jay, Olympic champion in Vancouver in 2010. The president of the Republicans is fighting like hell behind the scenes, stubbornly blocking the candidacy of the five-time Olympic champion, supported by Emmanuel Macron. Too independent, complains Wauquiez, who, like the president of the Paca region, Renaud Muselier, is also worried about the risks of conflicts of interest that the appointment of Fourcade would generate. The name of the Pyrenees appears in fact on the least two sponsorship contracts signed with several companies. “The two long-term partnerships that I can have are with technical brands which, in my opinion, are not in contradiction with the partnership issues of the organizing committee, Rossignol and Odlo,” defended the person concerned in a long interview with the Team, which served as an application form.

“There is a certain urgency”

Adding Michel Barnier – whose political weight is completely different from four months ago – to the Olympic loop must above all reassure the IOC. At the beginning of December, the outgoing president of the institution, Thomas Bach, said he was not “worried”. Before sending a letter a few days later to the government still led by Michel Barnier to urge it to act. There is no doubt that the censorship that arrived in the meantime has scolded the Lausanne-based body, which is now demanding concrete action. “Five years before the Games, there is a certain urgency for the Cojop to be created and functional,” David Lappartient worried on December 12 at the IOC board of directors. The discussions get bogged down, “notably because Wauquiez supports Fourcade and did everything to prevent his appointment”, assures a source close to the Olympic and sporting world cited by AFP.

The suspense was to end three weeks ago during what was to be a final interview at Matignon. Ultimately, no name was able to reach consensus, and it was notified to the press that the profiles of three candidates (Martin Fourcade, Vincent Jay and the former freestyle ski champion Marie Martinod) will be submitted to the opinion of the High Authority for transparency in public life. The epilogue should not be long. According to the host city contract signed on July 24, the day the Games were awarded, France has six months, until December 24, to validate an organizing committee. In theory, since the case could be postponed, according to several concordant sources, “towards the end of January”.