France’s top auditor lauds running of Paris Olympics but finds security costs poorly managed

PARIS – France’s top auditing institution praised the organisation of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games but also chided the failure to forecast a €2 billion (S$3.02 billion) security bill. 

With security only vaguely projected in advance, the costs in fact came to €1.7 billion in temporary spending and €300 million in longer-term costs, the Cour des Comptes (Court of Accounts) said in a report published on Sept 29.

“The security expenditure... was high, and very long underestimated. But this is not a case of cost overruns – it is a case of deficient forecasting,” it said of the enormous operation to keep athletes and spectators safe. 

“The sums spent are not in themselves excessive given the political choice to stage the Games in the heart of Europe’s densest city, but it is abnormal not to anticipate the cost of such an event,” Cour president Pierre Moscovici told a press conference, recommending better planning in future.

France

hosts the Winter Olympics in 2030

.

Despite the large unforecast security bill, there was no overall budgetary slippage, Moscovici said, after France had estimated a €6.8 billion cost for the whole event, excluding security and transport.

For a country that saw violent urban unrest in 2023 and the

chaotic Champions League final in 2022

, the safe execution of the Games was nonetheless a victory, with 15 million spectators enjoying events at 41 venues.

Infrastructure delivery was a high point. 

Solideo, the public body created in 2017 to supervise Olympic construction, handed over 70 projects on time and within the €1.68 billion budget envelope set by law: a rarity in Olympic history, where delays and overruns are the norm.

The auditors noted that reliance on existing venues and limited new building helped contain costs. The state spent €3.02 billion on organisation and €3.63 billion on infrastructure, close to early forecasts. 

But when the €2 billion security bill and €1.35 billion in Games-related transport spending are included, the real cost was more than €10 billion.

“The overall result is a success but with lessons to be learnt,” the report said. REUTERS