There will not, in the end, be a voter consultation on July 24th asking Pyrenean residents their views on the plan to hold the 2030 Winter Olympics in Catalonia. The Catalan government has postponed the vote this Friday after the latest developments over the proposed Olympic bid, in particular, the rupture of the joint project with the neighbouring community of Aragon. This Friday, the Catalan president, Pere Aragonès, was due to sign the decree convening the double consultation, but has now suspended it for the moment. According to the the cabinet member in charge of the project, presidency minister Laura Vilagrà, the decision was taken "out of respect" for the voters, as at present the details of the technical project are still in the air and therefore voters do not have the information they need to be able to decide in this double consultation, with the Alt Pirineu region and Aran having been set to vote yes or no on the overall games bid, and Ripollès, Berguedà and Solsonès counties also being given the chance to opt in or out of the plan.
Vilagrà announced this in a press conference from the Palau de la Generalitat, after a virtual meeting with the mayors of municipalities in the region affected by the Olympic proposal, and she conveyed the decision taken during a 45-minute on-line gathering in which there was "debate", according to the minister. Before the meeting, the government also conveyed the decision taken to the CUP, one of the parties most opposed to the candidacy. "We don't know when the details of the candidacy will be finally decided. In view of the situation and out of respect for the citizens, we have decided to postpone the consultation, because the people who have to vote must have all the information," said the minister, who said that the executive remains committed to the consultation and to those in the affected territories voting. She was also critical of the conduct of the Aragon leadership, which in her view had tried to block the project due to "political interests" by taking "uncompromising positions".
The minister made it a priority to complete the details of the bid as quickly as possible in order to reactivate this consultation as soon as possible, and for this reason she called for "maximum speed". What is clear is that a vote will not be held in the summer holiday month of August, and thus they plan to conduct it in the autumn, as early as possible. In any case, the minister affirmed that they are sure that they will put together a good proposal for Catalonia: "We are ready to host the Winter Olympics". Asked about the possibility that these obstacles with Aragon will force Catalonia to end up preparing a candidacy for the year 2034 Games and not those of 2030, Vilagrà said that the calendar is still the initial one, and that the change of the consultation does not affect the nomination, because the International Olympic Committee will make its decision in May 2023: "We have enough time."
On April 4th, Catalan president Pere Aragonès signed the decree to hold the consultation on the 2030 Winter Olympics, a few days before the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE) endorsed the technical proposal for the event, despite the rejection of Aragon. The initial idea was to ask the key alpine regions in the Pyrenees if the Catalan government should bid for the Winter Olympics with a yes/no question. On the same day, the Berguedà, Solsonès and Ripollès counties were also to have been asked another question: "Should your county be involved in the Winter Games project?"
The government of Aragon has dropped off
All this comes after the president of the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE), Alejandro Blanco, made it clear he was open to negotiating the candidacy for the 2030 Winter Olympics directly with the territories and ski resorts of Aragon that have shown interest. Blanco remarked that the COE wants to present an unbeatable candidacy, because Spain has never held a Winter Games in the Pyrenees and "they deserve it". After breaking off negotiations for a joint candidacy agreement between Catalonia and Aragon, the chairman of the committee said that although there was not much time left, dialogue had to be resumed to try to present the proposal put forward by the technical commission. In this regard, he ruled out a candidacy that only includes Catalonia. He also recalled that the candidacy is presented by the COE, and stressed that the residents of the two territories, in reference to Catalonia and Aragon, have understood the importance of the candidacy and are therefore "fighting" to reach agreement and to leave "pointless debate" behind. Blanco noted that, while there is a political debate on the bid, there is complete agreement at technical level, and therefore he did not rule out negotiating directly with the local territorial authorities.
Stop Olympics platform asks the COE not to go ahead
The Stop the Olympic Games platform expressed its regret that the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE) was "insisting" on maintaining the 2030 Winter Games project, despite acknowledging that there is currently no political agreement to carry it out. One of the protest platform spokespeople, Bernat Lavaquiol, said that all this showed that the candidacy "is full of holes" and called on the government to withdraw it. He also said that it was precisely this lack of unity in the political sphere and the "social response" he has perceived will make the bid "fall", as he believes that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will not choose it.