For sometimes very different reasons, several dozen territories have announced that they will not organize a fan zone.
Like a domino effect. One by one, the major French cities are announcing that they will not organize any fan zone to follow the matches of the next World Cup, which begins in Qatar in a month and a half. For reasons that differ from place to place: a boycott to castigate violations of human rights and the environment, in the name of energy sobriety or to save money. And sometimes a bit of all of that at the same time.
We can already ask ourselves this question. Who thought that creating fan zones between November and mid-December would be a good idea? Since we became aware of the pre-winter nature of the event, ball fans have explained over and over again that the atmosphere surrounding the World Cup would not be the same and, in particular, that there was a risk of finding the regulars of the giant screens rather in bars or on their sofa. In Strasbourg, for example, the temperature regularly drops below 0 during the period, while the end of autumn is often synonymous with rain everywhere in the territory. The events would then have been dependent on the vagaries of the weather or organized indoors.
Still, a few months before the event, the municipalities had to decide. And several arguments entered into the balance. “Unanimously, the municipal council of Lille voted a declaration disapproving of the holding of the Football World Cup in Qatar, which is nonsense with regard to human rights, the environment and sport. We will not broadcast any matches on a giant screen. This declaration on Saturday by the mayor of Lille, Martine Aubry, is one of the first salvos in favor of a boycott in the name of the issues, documented by a number of surveys and reports, human rights and ecology. A position defended beyond the municipalities alone.
Marseille, Strasbourg, Bordeaux, Reims… A good twenty large cities have so far followed in the footsteps of the northern city. “Our players, football and more broadly all sports fans have become prisoners of this irrational situation. This decision to hold the World Cup in Qatar is a historical misinterpretation. Not promoting it is an answer,” for example said the mayor of Lyon, Grégory Doucet, whose city will not organize any public broadcasting, like its metropolitan neighbors Villeurbanne, Vénissieux, Caluire.
Qatari investments in Paris and France
The City of Paris has also called for a boycott of the event. “For us, there was no question of setting up match broadcast areas for several reasons: the first is the conditions for organizing this World Cup, both in terms of the environment and the social aspect, the second, it’s the temporality, the fact that it takes place in the month of December”, explains to AFP the deputy mayor in charge of sport, Pierre Rabadan. A decision hailed by environmentalists, members of the municipal majority, who call to go even further. With the sights of PSG, owned by Qatar.
Then begins a balancing act. While specifying that “PSG is a private club over which we have no control”, Anne Hidalgo’s deputy David Belliard “regrets” et “denounces” the fact that PSG has the Gulf emirate as its main shareholder. Before adding: “We can no longer continue to work with states that go against the policies we are pursuing.”
Beyond the Parisian football club, France is the second country in which Qatar invests the most in Europe, behind the United Kingdom. And Paris is a land of choice for the emirate: the Printemps stores, the Royal Monceau hotel, but also a partnership between the respective economic development and innovation agencies of Paris and Qatar, a partnership that Anne Hidalgo said to herself be “proud to sponsor” in 2016.
Some criticize a share of hypocrisy among the cities that have decided to announce a boycott, decided for objective reasons, on human rights and climate issues, but known for several years. Better late than never ?
70,000 euros saved
Municipalities, on the other hand, invoked other arguments. For Angers, “everyone must participate in the national sobriety effort” and the giant screens will therefore remain in the warehouses. From there to see in this symbolic decision a link with Christophe Béchu, current Minister of the Environment and former mayor of the city? The announcement preceded by a few days the sobriety plan which will be presented by Elisabeth Borne this Thursday.
Third argument put forward, the budgetary question. This fall, local authorities must make arbitrations. “It seemed incongruous to us to take the risk of this type of expense when we are currently trying to save money to absorb the rising cost of energy”, explains to France Bleu Xavier Bonnefont, the mayor of Angoulême, who ensures that this represents “a few tens of thousands of euros”. And to specify: “If it had been in the middle of summer, we would have asked ourselves the question. But there, in the middle of winter, I don’t think there would have been many people anyway. The public will be just as good in a bar.”
On the subject of savings, Poitiers is a “avant-garde”. “The choice was made almost a year ago, at the time of the budgetary arbitrations, explain to Press Center Charles Reverchon-Billot, vice-president of Greater Poitiers. The watchword was to look for ways to save money, this was one of them.” Estimated savings: 70,000 euros for three matches. And even if he doesn’t forget “organizational conditions” of the World, he explains that this “did not come into play at the time of our choosing”. A year ago, no city had called for a boycott of the World Cup or its broadcast in public places.