The Paris Games cost nearly six billion euros of public money, according to the Court of Auditors.

The Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games cost nearly six billion euros of public money, a large portion of which was spent on security for this extraordinary event, the Court of Auditors announced Monday in "an initial estimate." The Court estimated "organizational expenses at 2.77 billion euros," including 1.4 billion for security, and infrastructure expenses at 3.19 billion euros.

"There's really no cause for controversy," assured its first president, Pierre Moscovici, during a press conference. However, it was necessary to quickly "get to the bottom of the prices," especially given the current state of France's public finances and preparations for the 2030 Winter Olympics. The Court of Auditors teased that it presented this bill on Olympic Day.

Until now, only the accounts of the Organising Committee (Cojo) with 4.4 billion in expenditure (76 million euros surplus) based almost entirely on private funding and those of Solideo (Olympic Works Delivery Company) including a public share, were known.

Monday's first estimate of public costs includes a number of expenses incurred by the state, local authorities, and public companies: bonuses for police officers, construction of the Olympic Village, and the acceleration of work on metro line 14 in recent weeks to ensure it reaches the Olympic Village on time, etc.

Pierre Moscovici also reported on Monday an estimate made by the Prime Minister's office, which has not been made public until now, of 5.3 billion euros for these Olympic Games, which were "an undeniable success." Compared to other editions, "it seems that public spending is more limited than at London 2012," he outlined.

The public bill is a real headache to calculate. Should we include the additional anti-drone equipment purchased before the Olympics that will be used afterward? The Court of Auditors says yes. A more detailed report will be published by October, broken down by theme.

Similarly, due to "the unavailability of data," the Court did not include "the positive and negative effects of the Games on economic activity." Among the largest expenditure items: security, with more than 35,000 law enforcement officers mobilized in a context of terrorist risk, which represented 1.4 billion euros (including bonuses of nearly 315 million euros for the police and gendarmerie).

"The Interior Ministry's initial forecasts (for security) suggested a budget of 200 million euros," Pierre Moscovici recalled. "I'm not saying we could have achieved security with fewer resources," he commented, but "the initial budget was too low." More than 304 million euros were also invested in cameras, network security, and anti-drone equipment.

Given the shortage of private security guards, the government also invested €78 million to train new personnel. This is followed by spending on transport and mobility: €570 million, including €335 million for "service enhancements" by RATP (metro) and SNCF (train). Regarding infrastructure, the government and local authorities' share of Solideo is €1.65 billion.

There is some uncertainty regarding the swimmability of the Seine, which has accumulated €1.4 billion in public investment, but some of this can be attributed to European obligations. At this stage, the Court of Auditors estimates that the costs attributable to the Games range "between €200 million and €1 billion." Given "this uncertainty," they are not included in this assessment.

The organizing committee for the Olympic Games, which will close on June 30, believes that the Court has cast its net too wide and judges that the figure is "disproportionate to reality," its financial director Fabrice Lacroix told a few journalists, estimating the public bill at "more like two billion euros."

In his response to the Court of Auditors, Cojo President Tony Estanguet laments that "the positive economic impact of the Games" is not being taken into account. This decision was also noted by Sports Minister Marie Barsacq, a former member of the Cojo, in a response to AFP.