Hollande 'in favour' of Paris bid for 2024 Olympics
Paris (AFP) - French President Francois Hollande said Thursday he was in favour of Paris making a bid for the 2024 summer Olympic Games and the 2025 World expo.
"I am in favour of the city of Paris, if it decides, to put in a bid for the Olympic Games of 2024 ... For Paris, capital of France, capital of culture, it's very important," said Hollande during a prime-time television interview.
France has not hosted a summer Olympics since 1924 in Paris although it held a winter games in Albertville in 1992.
Despite Hollande's comments, it would be up to Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo to put in a formal bid and she has been reticent up until now.
Earlier this year, she said: "We are in a financial and budgetary position today that does not allow me to say that I am making this bid."
Prime Minister Manuel Valls has already spoken out in favour of Paris bidding for the 2025 World Expo, leading many to think it was unlikely the city would also throw its hat in the ring for the Olympics.
