A chasm separates them. On the one hand, there are the 45,000 volunteers for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Volunteers put to work in exchange for a piece of the magic of the event, equipment and a meal per day (but no accommodation). On the other, the senior executives of the organizing committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Cojop) whose remunerations exceed on average those of the private sector, according to the revelations of the program Further investigation broadcast this Thursday.
An internal budget note dated December 11 details, among other things, the budget allocated to the overall payroll of the organizing committee. The calculation leads to the figure of 584.8 million euros for the duration of the organization of the event. That is to say 115 million euros more than the sum announced in the application file.
“This development is linked to the evolution of the scope of the project,” explains Fabrice Lacroix, executive administrative and financial director, during a press briefing held this Wednesday afternoon. We added complementary sports which did not exist at the time of the application, as well as a territorial commitment which did not exist at all”, such as surfing in Tahiti, which we still wonder if it was really reasonable.
According to the program, salary expenditure is nevertheless such that the recommendations of the Court of Auditors for the final stretch leading to the 2024 Olympics were more in the direction of an internal austerity cure. But according to the socialist MP for Ille-et-Vilaine Claudia Rouaux, a member of the Paris 2024 remuneration committee since September, these alerts did not prevent significant increases for certain senior executives.
300,000 euros net per year for seven years for Estanguet
A communications director saw her salary increase by 45,000 euros to 195,000 euros annually. A salary variation to be included in the framework of equality between women and men, justifies the organizing committee, which is surprised to be criticized for a “voluntarist, almost militant” measure than the question of equal pay. “Our remuneration committee alerted us to certain female profiles which were not up to the best salaries. This situation was therefore corrected with the promotion of this director as executive director. »
During Wednesday’s press briefing, the deputy general manager, Michaël Aloisio, clarified that this was the specific case of a person who “had been sitting on the executive committee for six years without having the title and the associated salary. We only corrected his title and mechanically the salary associated with his title [selon la grille salariale établie]. »
The program also focuses on Tony Estanguet’s remuneration, which is the subject of an investigation by the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office. The president of Cojop, who operates as an independent worker, will have received approximately 300,000 euros net annually for seven years. A calculation which takes into account a loyalty bonus equivalent to 10% of Tony Estanguet’s total income if he remains in office until the end of the adventure. A little water in the wine glass of indecency: it’s still less than the 400,000 euros of Sebastian Coe, boss of the London 2012 Olympics. “The general director of London 2012, Paul Deighton, had, after a comparative analysis of the firm [avec lequel travaillait le comité de rémunération du Cojop]a salary of 550,000 euros with a variable part,” adds Aloisio.