After the controversy launched earlier this week by the elected opposition Biarritz Corine Martineau, the BOPB club confirms and drives home the point: there was indeed a tacit agreement to officially launch the Aguiléra stadium project with new financing negotiated, explains the side of the club. The BO accuses the mayor of Biarritz, Maider Arostéguy of having derailed the affair. The agreement was however tied up a few weeks ago in the presence of the president of the National Rugby League René Bouscatel in person, add the same source.
A short-lived improvement
It was thought that relations were heating up between the Biarritz Olympique Pays Basque and the town hall of Biarritz, after months of clashes drawn over the financing of the sports park in Aguilera. Last February the town hall even closed the door via a letter sent to the president of the club . But for a few weeks discussions have been taking place in the greatest discretion between the president of the club Jean-Baptiste Aldigé and the mayor of the city Maider Arostéguy (LR). The improvement will have been short-lived.
René Bouscatel as a Good Samaritan
It was René Bouscatel, the powerful president of the National Rugby League and former boss of the Stade Toulousain, who mediated in this affair to bring together the interests of the two parties. He was present at two meetings in town hall of Biarritz in October, there are five and seven weeks. A sort of great witness facilitating an agreement between Jean-Baptiste Aldigé and Maider Arostéguy. A public / private partnership for a 30 million euros project. € 15 million are provided by the Gave family, whose father Charles Gave created the financial consulting company Gavekal, and 15 M € payable by the city, which would benefit from 8 million subsidies from local authorities and the State according to a source familiar with the matter, the town hall being much less affirmative on this last point.
An uncertain future
The objective of the whole operation is the renovation of the stadium, the realization of a new lawn, the construction of the training and training center and the restoration of the “pink house”. But for this the filing of building permits had to be validated by November 15 at the latest in order to begin work in June 2022 for delivery in June 2024, says the club. But according to the rugby club, this was not done by the city, nullifying the project and endangering the very future of the rugby club.. The town hall of Biarritz does not have the same version: it confirms that the project is on track, that all the funding has not yet been completed, but that in any case the work can start in June as planned in the tacit agreement. “It is still necessary that the president of the club take the necessary steps to submit the building permits” explains someone close to the case. “It’s up to him to do it and not up to us”.