French Olympic and Paralympic Committees Stand Up Against Cuts to Sports Budget

"An incomprehensible, unjust and dangerous decision." "A historic misinterpretation." In a press release issued on the evening of Thursday, July 17 , the French National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSF) and its Paralympic counterpart (CPSF) denounced the 17.6% reduction in funding allocated to sport, youth and community life, provided for in the budget guidelines announced the day before by the Prime Minister, François Bayrou .

"The country's current budgetary situation requires an effort from each sector and the sports movement is ready to do its part, particularly by continuing the transformation and modernisation of the economic models of its structures with renewed determination ," the two bodies write. "But sport cannot be treated with such contempt." It is, they insist, "a public policy of primary necessity."

"This new cut (...) marks a real abandonment, contrary to the legacy of the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games [OPG]," they further believe, " of which France will celebrate the first anniversary on July 26. "We cannot let the world of sport be such a variable for budgetary adjustment, especially a few months after it has flown the country's flag so high," Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, former Minister of Sports and the Olympic Games (May 2022 to September 2024), who was elected President of the CNOSF on June 19, commented to Agence France-Presse.

Since September 2024, the sports budget has been steadily declining, and tensions had already emerged between the government and stakeholders. In January, the Senate rejected a government amendment to cancel €34.3 million in sports funding in 2025. At the same time, several elected officials, federations, and athletes sounded the alarm , calling on the government not to let "the flame go out."

The decision, announced in June, to refocus the eligibility criteria for the Pass'Sport, a €50 grant in effect since 2021 for low-income families to pay for club registration, excluding 6-13 year-olds from the beneficiaries, has provoked a new outcry. On July 11, the Ville et Banlieue association relayed on its website an open letter addressed to the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister, in which the 133 elected signatories expressed their "deep disapproval of this deadly measure for access to sport" , which they describe as "desertion of the State" .

The CNOSF and the CPSF believe that the sector has been "particularly affected" over two consecutive years by the cuts in funding, "even though it only represents 0.10% of the overall budget , " "a very small amount in the equation."

"Through this finance bill, an entire generation, an entire model, an entire legacy is being trampled upon," the two committees insist in their press release. "The Games will have lasted only one summer, while their promise should live on for a long time to come." They call on "all those involved in sport – athletes, federations, clubs, volunteers, referees, coaches, educators, etc. –, local authorities, parliamentarians, all supporters of sport, and citizens aware of its importance, to mobilize alongside [them] to refuse this downgrading."