(ATR) If the Rome 2024 candidature is to survive, bid leaders will need to convince the city’s new mayor, Virginia Raggi, of its value and benefit to citizens.
Raggi, 37, who was elected as Rome’s first female mayor on June 20, has stressed that the Italian capital’s bid for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games is not among her priorities, advising she "will not indebt the city for 50 years."
Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) president Giovanni Malagò tells Around the Rings he remains optimistic that an upcoming meeting will help the bid’s cause. Malagò also plans to personally invite Raggi to attend next month’s Rio Games as a guest of CONI.
Raggi is scheduled to meet with City Council members tomorrow (July 7) for the first time since taking office. The meeting could be critical to the bid’s future.
"We’re waiting for the composition of the Board of Rome, which is the institutional body with which to discuss the city’s administration," said Malagò about meeting with Raggi to discuss Rome’s candidature for the 2024 Games.
"I don’t think that Roma 2024 is the first issue of the Municipal Council's agenda," Malagò added. "As soon as possible we’ll have a meeting with the mayor, the Council and its members."
Malagò noted that Rome’s bid is moving forward despite Raggi’s vocal opposition. The Italian lawyer, who represents the Five Star Movement party, said last week that a referendum on the bid will be evaluated should the citizens of Rome ask for it.
"We are going ahead with all of our activities and on July 13th we will attend a meeting with the technical departments of the IOC," Malagò said, referring to a workshop in Lausanne that will also include representatives from rival bids Budapest, Los Angeles and Paris.
Malagò also told ATR that Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi, who has been a proponent of bringing the Games back to the Eternal City for the first time since 1960, will attend the Rio Olympics as planned.
"The presence of the Italian Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi is confirmed on July 3rd in Rio, at the opening of Casa Italia," Malagò said.
Raggi met for the first time with Pope Francis at the Vatican on July 1. Following the meeting, Raggi told Vatican Radio that the bid does not make fiscal sense and is not among the priorities of her administration.
"If the Romans were to ask me for a referendum we would evaluate it, though obviously exposing all the pros and cons, costs and recall that just last year in 2015 we finished paying the annual installment of 92 million Euros for Football World Cup Italy '90," Raggi said in the interview.
"Do the math and understand that these events weigh heavily on the shoulders of citizens – this is critical. So right now the Olympic Games in Rome appear so far away," she said.
The relatively unknown new mayor has continually stated her focus is on tackling Rome’s debt, corruption, subpar infrastructure, traffic congestion, Mafia connections and failed transportation network.
"Nobody wants to bring Rome to levels that are not competitive with other European cities," Raggi said. "God forbid at a time in which, however, we have a debt of 13 billion Euros only on extraordinary management. I believe that asking citizens to be in debt for at least another 20, 30, 40 years is unethical, it’s not fair."
Despite Raggi’s position, Rome 2024 officials remain optimistic about the bid’s future.
The IOC will select a host city for the 2024 Games at its Session in Lima in September 2017.
Written by Brian Pinelli
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