why the return of a “real” Ministry of Sports can change things, two years before the Paris Olympics

Two questions occupied the minds of sports and political enthusiasts before the announcement of the first Borne government. What profile would the person who would take over from Roxana Maracineanu have? In addition, would sport regain a full-fledged ministry or will it remain under tutelage? The Elysee Palace put an end to the suspense on Friday, May 20, by appointing Amélie Oudéa-Castera to the post of Minister of Sports for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Beyond the name of the lucky woman, this choice of a “real” ministry is important for the future place of sport in French society. It can even be perceived as a surprise. “For me it is irreversible, there will be no full-fledged ministry … unless it is a political will of the President”told franceinfo: sport Jean-François Lamour, Minister of Sports between 2002 and 2007, before the announcement of the new government.

For the past two years, sport has been placed under the supervision of the Ministry of National Education and Youth, after experiencing the start of Macron’s first five-year term with a full-fledged ministry, led by Laura Flessel then Roxana Maracineanu. The latter was demoted to the rank of deputy minister in July 2020.

In recent history, sport has also been under the aegis of the Ministry of Health, with Bernard Laporte (2007-2009) and Rama Yade (2009-2010) “only” Secretaries of State. He was also directly in the purse of the Prime Minister, as in 1995-1997, with Guy Drut as minister delegate to Alain Juppé, head of government.

Minister of State, Minister, Minister Delegate, Secretary of State: these formulations hide differences beyond the symbolic. Honorary title, the denomination of Minister of State “stresses the particular importance given to a minister or to the portfolio for which he is responsible”, can we read on the government website. A minister benefits from the full charge of the constitutional attributions of his position, whereas a deputy minister and a secretary of state exercise “with the Prime Minister or a responsible minister”.

“Full ministry or not, it’s not the title that counts”however assures Thierry Braillard, former Secretary of State for Sports from April 2014 to May 2017 during the presidency of François Hollande. “What needs to be scrutinized is the award decree which will be published in a few days. It will say who does what.”

The one who is today President of the French Sports Foundation illustrates his point by specifying that following a reorganization in 2016, the award decree granted him “all sports policy”even though he was under the supervision of Patrick Kanner, Minister for the City, who in fact did not have “of no effective function in sport”.

Jean-François Lamour is not going in the same direction. For him, status is important, because “the Secretary of State does not negotiate the budget. It is the supervising minister who manages”. “Same thing for human resources: he does not intervene in the number of agents recruited or in the total number of positions that will have to disappear. A secretary of state has almost no autonomy and no say in the matter”says the former Olympic fencing champion.

In addition to lower remuneration, a Secretary of State does not attend the Council of Ministers, unlike ministers and deputy ministers, unless one of his files is on the agenda. Above all, it weighs less in discussions to win arbitrations.

“That said, being a full-fledged minister does not mean that we will obtain a larger budget. The amount allocated to sports had never dropped as much as under Laura Flessel, yet a full-fledged minister”

Thierry Braillard, former Secretary of State for Sports

at franceinfo: sport

Regarding the weight of sport in government policy, the two former members of a government deplore the reduction to the minimum portion of the sports administration, with a continuous decline in the number of its civil servants. Gold, “the minister, his policy is his administration”, supports Thierry Braillard.

Both also agree in their criticism of the positioning of sport under the supervision of National Education from 2020 to May 2022. “I find that this diluted the administration. The agents found themselves a little drowned” strikes the president of the French Sports Foundation. The prospect of the Paris Games in 2024 probably guided the Elysée and Matignon in the choice of a “Minister of Sports, the Olympic and Paralympic Games”.