Paris 2024 Olympics: Emmanuel Macron wants ‘the Olympic truce to send a signal to the whole world’

While several international conflicts are ongoing, Emmanuel Macron is determined to reduce tensions during the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Indeed, in an interview with the newspapers La Tribune and La Provence, the head of state explains that this is one of the topics that he will discuss with the authorities. The Chinese President on Monday and Tuesday during his visit to France. “The Olympic Truce should serve as a signal for us to the whole world,” he said, believing it would provide an opportunity for “diplomatic initiatives.”

For the President of the Republic, the Olympic Games that will take place this summer in Paris will of course have economic, social and sporting issues, but also international ones. “These Games will allow us to hold an international summit 24 hours before the opening to advance an agenda consistent with our preliminary goals, but the Olympic Truce for me is the main message,” he said.

“Try everywhere”

“We will try to achieve this for all theaters of conflict,” insisted Emmanuel Macron. When asked whether this goal could be applied to the war in Ukraine, he replied that “we need to try everywhere.”

In mid-April, on the occasion of 100 days before the start of the Games, the president already promised to “do everything so that there is an Olympic truce.” “When the guns fall silent, you have to renegotiate, you have to be at the table with those you fought,” he stressed in an interview with RMC and BFMTV. “The President of China will come to Paris in a few weeks, I will ask him to help me. This is also a diplomatic moment of peace,” he also said.

The head of state took the opportunity to welcome the decision of the International Olympic Committee, which refuses to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin after the invasion of Ukraine, but allows Russian athletes to participate in competitions under a neutral flag. A “proportionate and fair” choice, he said, emphasizing that “we condemn the country, but not the athletes.”

He also rejected calls to exclude Israel from the event, which took a deadly response against the Gaza Strip after the October 7 Hamas attacks, modeled on Russia. On the contrary, he assured that “the Israeli flag will be there.” “Israel was the victim of a terrorist attack (…). We may disagree with Israel on how to respond and defend, but we cannot say that Israel is the attacker and therefore the distinction is very clear,” he said, while calling for “a path of peace to be found in the area.”