Laurent Wauquiez, a prominent lawmaker from the neighboring region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes who used to lead the Les Républicains conservative party, has been pushing hard to ensure his constituency hosts much of the action.
The president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region, Renaud Muselier, told POLITICO he and Wauquiez had butted heads before agreeing to split certain events between their respective jurisdictions.
Musilier said he and Wauquiez had agreed to have alpine skiing events in the north, while freestyle skiing and events on ice would be held further south.
But Wauquiez, according to a parliamentary adviser who has closely followed planning for the 2030 Games, pushed to exclude Val d’Isère’s famed ski resorts from the event at the expense of those on his turf that are closer to other proposed Olympic sites — angering the likes of Barnier, who for years lived near Val d’Isère.
Wauquiez did not respond to POLITICO’s request for comment.
Those defending Cojop say there is still plenty of time to get things right. For now, the committee is temporarily turning to one of the architects of the successful Paris Olympics in 2024, Etienne Thobois, to lay out a new organizational roadmap going forward.
“Cojop will communicate at the end of this procedure and calls on all parties concerned to ensure the smooth running of the mission, in a spirit of collective responsibility,” the organization said in its Feb. 4 statement.