(ATR)The Rome city council voted with an 86 percent majority to move forward with a bid for the 2024 Olympics.
The vote comes amidst a corruption scandal dubbed "Mafia Capital" that has created a rift in the government, resulting in six dissenting votes out of a possible 44.
The dissenters are aligned with the 5-Star Movement, a political group that has voiced concerns about a Rome bid for the Olympics since Italian Premier Matteo Renzi announced the city’s possible candidacy last December.
"With Mafia Capital in full swing and in a city with Mafia infiltrations, spiraling budgets and services inadequate for its citizens, putting forward the Rome bid seems absurd to us," Marcello De Vito of the 5-Star Movement said.
However, proponents of the 2024 bid say the Olympics could be what the city needs to end a stagnant economy.
"Like it was for Barcelona and London, the Rome 2024 Olympics will leave a renewed, modern and sustainable identity for our city," Rome Mayor Ignazio Marino said.
President of the Italian Olympic Committee Giovanni Malago is relieved that the power of sport has overcome the power of politics.
"It was proven that with common sense it is possible to overcome the obstacles inevitably created by political debate. Today’s achievement is just the first step in a long journey which will continue over the next two years and which we must make together, in unity. This is the only way to achieve our goals," the NOC president said in a statement.
Olympics Can Transform Rome
Rome 2024 president Luca Cordero di Montezemolo said the Games wouldtransform the quality of life for the city’s residents.
After the vote, he called for "unity of purpose" if the Italian capital is to win what is expected to be a closely-fought bidding contest."It's good that the vast majority of the Capitoline Assembly pronounced in favour of the candidacy. I am very sorry for the few that voted against, because they have shown to have no care for the future of the city, putting the political tactics of today first," he said.
"I am also pleased that after the important words of the President of the Republic, we have seen the determined efforts of the Government and the very responsible attitude of environmental groups, universities and business associations," he added.
"Rome and Italy hosted the last Summer Olympics in 1960, a Games everyone remembers as the first Olympics of the modern era. Today we start with the same spirit, convinced that an Olympics in Rome will be a great sports festival but also a celebration of beauty, culture and technology."
Rome will join Boston, Paris and Hamburg as cities officially bidding for the 2024 Olympics. Other possible contenders include Budapest and Baku. The city council of Budapest voted strongly in favor of a 2024 bid with only one dissenting vote on Tuesday. The proposal for a Budapest bid still has to pass a vote in the Hungarian government and parliament before becoming official.
Host of the inaugural European Games Baku say they could also bid for the 2024 Games if certain requirements are reduced by the IOC, among them an opening and closing ceremony stadium that can hold 80,000 people. Baku’s current national stadium can seat 68,000.
Interested cities must submit their intentions to the IOC by September 15, 2015. The IOC will make its final selection at the 130th IOC session in Lima, Peru.
Written by Kevin Nutley
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