Paris (France) (AFP) – Awaited for months, the Olympic law was definitively adopted Thursday in Parliament, a decisive step for the realization of the Alps 2030 project which, however, remains weighed down by the governance crisis within its organizing committee.

Published on: 05/02/2026 - 04:23 Modified on: 05/02/2026 - 16:34

Described as "an essential toolbox for the successful delivery of the Games" by Sports Minister Marina Ferrari, the text - resulting from a compromise between deputies and senators in a joint joint committee - was largely approved on Thursday in the Senate by show of hands. The deputies did the same on Tuesday by 390 votes to 99. The rebellious and environmentalist parliamentarians voted against.

This is the end of a long parliamentary journey for this Olympic bill adopted at first reading in June by the upper house, then put on hold by the political crisis.

“The text makes the necessary legislative adjustments to guarantee a secure, controlled and adapted organization to the specificities of mountain territories, in continuity with the legacy of the Paris 2024 Games,” welcomed the Ministry of Sports in a press release, welcoming “a decisive step”.

For these winter games which will be held in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions, the Olympic law allows temporary exemptions from common law in matters of town planning, housing, health, work but also security - a section of which certain measures have been denounced on the left as repressive.

In particular, the experimentation with an algorithmic video surveillance device is extended until 2027, a test phase of which launched on the occasion of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games ended in March 2025. And the possibility is provided for private security agents to carry out visual inspections of vehicles and their trunks.

The environmental issue was also debated throughout the examination: "the artificialization linked to the Alps-2030, or around 20 hectares, will be counted" in the quotas for the zero net artificialization objective (ZAN) "but at the national level", the minister was keen to emphasize on Tuesday, the idea being not to penalize the municipalities concerned.

“Give a united image”

Marina Ferrari also highlighted an amendment made by the government "requiring the Organizing Committee to organize at least one physical public meeting per community hosting events or an Olympic site".

Denouncing the absence of "public participation in the decision-making process" before the candidacy as well as since the awarding of the 2030 Olympic Games, the JOP 2030 citizen collective launched three procedures, before the administrative courts of Lyon and Marseille and before a UN body in Geneva.

At the end of January, the Marseille court demanded from Solideo, responsible for the 2030 Olympic works, more transparency in communication and information concerning its projects. The establishment appealed to the Court of Cassation.

The Alps 2030 project is also suffering from an open crisis within its organizing committee (Cojop), after the resignations in two months of its operations director, its communications director and the president of the remuneration committee.

The latter, Bertrand Méheut, former president of the Canal+ group and ex-boss of the PMU, notably pointed out in a letter a “significant drift which leads (him) to doubt the success of the project, whether in terms of deadlines and costs”.

The adoption of this law should allow "an awareness of all stakeholders in this issue, including within Cojop, of the need to work together and give a united image to the national representation, the inhabitants and the economic actors of the territory", urged centrist senator Jean-Michel Arnaud, rapporteur of the bill, on Thursday.

“The latest information surrounding the organization of Alps 2030 does not at the moment give cause for optimism and worries me, in my capacity as co-chair of the working group responsible for monitoring the preparation of these JOPs,” noted PS MP Belkhir Belhaddad on Tuesday. He also “questioned” the “absence, to date, of support from certain leading private partners”.

In November, Cojop said "it would like to be able to announce the first partnerships for [the Olympic Games] Milan-Cortina", the opening ceremony of which will take place on Friday.

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© 2026 AFP

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