983,352 euros.
This is the budget spent by the City of Paris on the decorations which have adorned the capital's Town Hall since last November.
Affixed to the facade as part of the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, these giant panels with an Art Deco look must become “a visual landmark” both “to prepare residents for the deadline and allow everyone to take ownership of this event worldwide,” explained the municipality at the time of their installation.
This significant sum invested in the printing of these decorations and revealed in a document on the Marcellum site, which lists public contracts, is far from being passed on to everyone.
On social networks, the elected representatives of the Changer Paris group, the first opposition group to the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo (PS), were quick to make it known with a salty publication on their X account, recalling the heavy debt which already weighs on the City's accounts, and accusing the mayor of Paris of "squandering" public money.
💶€983,352...
This is the cost of the "decoration" of the facade of the Town Hall for the #JOP2024!
An additional drop in the ocean of €10 billion in debt, thanks to #AnneHidalgo who is squandering Parisians' money.
And you, what would you have done for #Paris with this amount?
pic.twitter.com/WoSi9zyuMe
— Changer Paris (@GpeChangerParis) February 7, 2024
The advisor of the same political group, David Alphand, also protested at this “absolutely exorbitant” sum, which is money wasted.
“What we explain to Parisians is that there will be a legacy of the Olympic Games, that we are in the process of preparing more sustainable Games.
But the reality is that this decoration that you see today in front of the Town Hall will disappear the day after the Olympic Games,” criticized the right-wing elected official at the microphone of BFMTV.
This million euros could, however, only be "a nice aperitif" of the town hall's total expenditure in dressing the capital in the colors of the Games, in the words of an Internet user well known for his investment in the movement. RampageParis.
6 million euros for "digital printing for the dressing and signage of the City of Paris" for the Olympic Games: this is the value of the past market... the €983,352 revealed by @GpeChangerParis for the facade of City Hall are just a nice aperitif... https://t.co/wt2zYMW2LF pic.twitter.com/rDq4xY6ai7
— Enzo Morel (@mtwit75) February 8, 2024
Indeed, according to a public tender document found by the latter, the municipality would have signed a contract by agreement which could reach a maximum of 6 million euros for "digital printing for the covering and the signage of the City of Paris”.