European Parliament Backs Paris 2024 Olympic Bid
June 7, 2017
With less than 100 days until the International Olympic Committee casts its vote in Lima to decide the host city for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Paris 2024 has received a boost with the European Parliament coming out in support of the bid.
President of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, backed by Marc Tarabella and Santiago Fisas, co-Presidents of the body’s Sport Intergroup, announced the parliament’s support of the project during today’s session in Brussels at the very heart of the European institution.
A Paris 2024 delegation led by Paris 2024 Co-Chair Bernard Lapasset and accompanied by France’s newly-named Minister of Sports, Olympian Laura Flessel, shared the project with the European Parliament’s Sport Intergroup today, which brings together 92 members from 21 different countries to address themes relevant to sports in the region.
This latest support comes less than a week after the warm welcome given by the European Sports Ministers to the Paris 2024 project, presented by Laura Flessel to her counterparts in Brussels on 23 May. This strong demonstration of Europe-wide engagement in Paris’s bid for the 2024 Games further emphasises the unifying nature of the French candidature.
Through its commitment to sustainability, its desire to put sport at the heart of society and the strong social purpose, Paris 2024 embodies the values of the European Union and is fully in line with the objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy. It once again establishes the bid’s ability to bring together European states and citizens around its project and its values of sharing.
Bernard Lapasset, Co-Chair of Paris 2024, said: “We are very pleased to have been able to present our project to the Ministers of the European Parliament and warmly welcome the support of the parliament, through its President Antonio Tajani.
“Paris 2024 is a project to be shared in France, Europe and the world and the support of the European Parliament further demonstrates strong unity around our candidature.”
Laura Flessel, Double Olympic Champion and French Minister of Sport, added: “The impact of Paris 2024 extends far beyond France. I am proud of the enthusiasm that it promotes in our European neighbours, as was seen at the meeting of the EU Council of Sports Ministers on 23 May and at the European Parliament today.
“This mobilisation shows Paris 2024 is a unifying project with values that unite us as Europeans.”