Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo today said a decision on whether to bid for the 2024 summer Olympic Games, which President Francois Hollande eagerly supports, would not be made before January.
Keen to breathe some enthusiasm and confidence into a country gripped by a gloom-inducing, job-sucking economic crisis, Hollande said Thursday he was in favour of bidding for the global sporting event, describing it as important for a "capital of culture".
But Hidalgo, whose job it is to decide whether or not to go for the Olympics, quickly tempered his enthusiasm today when she reminded reporters that the conclusions of working groups studying the feasibility of a bid would be made in January.
"I will stick to this schedule and I invite everyone to respect it like I do," she said.
Hidalgo is extremely reticent to put in a bid.
Earlier this year, she said: "We are in a financial and budgetary position today that does not allow me to say that I am making this bid.
"Parisians expect housing, equipment, justice, economic ease from me."
She reminded reporters today that the French capital had already submitted three failed bids for the Summer Games that were instead won by Athens in 2004, Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012.
"Having dreams is good, realising them is even better," she said.
But Hollande, who also threw his support behind hosting the 2025 World Expo, said the two mammoth events could have a positive impact on the economy by building "lots of equipment", creating "lots of jobs" and the possibility for "lots of industries" to show their know-how.
"France needs to project itself into the future," he said.
Junior Sports Minister Thierry Braillard also waded into the debate today, saying hosting the 2024 Olympics would not entail huge costs.
"We are lucky to have infrastructure which means that if we decided to bid, there would be no need for much investment where infrastructure is concerned as it already exists," he said.
"The only investment would be on the Olympic village, which could become social housing or housing for students, and on transport infrastructure.
