Paris—France’s Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said on Wednesday it was too early to say if the armed forces will be required to assist with security at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Organizers say 22,000 private security guards are needed for the Olympic sites and for the moment they have found between 11,000 and 12,000 suitable candidates.
“If at the very end of the process, we are lacking a certain number of people, we will look at what we can do. But we think that a large country like France is capable of responding to this challenge of private security,” Darmanin told the Senate, the upper house of the French parliament.
“We will know more at the start of next month,” he added.
The Paris local organizing committee will begin choosing between bids for contracts from security companies in February.
The organizing committee’s director general Etienne Thobois said Wednesday that his staff were examining the bids received from the first tender for security contracts, which covers just over a third of the personnel required.
“All the scenarios are on the table,” Thobois said.
The French state’s spending watchdog has warned that the local organizers will have to foot the bill if the army has to be used for security.
Members of Britain’s army, navy and air force filled some security roles at the 2012 London Olympics after private security firm G4S failed to provide enough security guards.