The Spanish Olympic Committee (COE) will try to rebuild the bridges. Alejandro Blanco, president of the body, appeared this Wednesday afternoon to explain his version of the stalemate and subsequent rupture of negotiations to formalize a joint candidacy between Catalonia and Aragon for the 2030 Winter Olympics. In this context, the COE head signalled a change from the position he announced on Monday, which was that the Spanish Olympic Committee would move into the kitchen and cook up its own proposal that would be based on a "technically unbeatable project." Now, Blanco has shown an interest in seeking to draw the government of Aragon back in and resuming negotiations next week to try to reach an agreement: "We can't give up on organizing the Winter Olympics. We can't afford to lose position or prestige before the International Olympic Committee. I will reopen talks with all parties wishing to participate in an attempt to reach a consensus on a 2030 Olympic bid."
In the event that this pact comes back together, the president of the Spanish Olympic Committee did not want to anticipate scenarios and limited himself to stating: "We will see what the decision is." In any case, it can't be ruled out that he could go directly to the Aragonese territorial authorities interested in hosting the Olympic project if the autonomous government led by Javier Lambán continues to block the understanding: "There is a lot of interest in the Pyrenees to organize these Games, also in Barcelona and Zaragoza, so I will not give up the fight to put together a candidacy." Despite these words, Alejandro Blanco admits that the agreement is "difficult", but "not impossible". Therefore, he sent a very clear message to Aragon and its governing executive: "At the decisive moment, I'm sure that the people involved will think that it is very important to present the candidacy." The COE president also emphasized that it has the "clear support" of the Spanish government to present the project and he praised the role of Catalonia so far: "The Catalan government has made a very clear commitment to hold the Games."
Talks will be resumed based on the work that has already been done: "This work cannot be ignored, it cannot be undone to start from scratch again because there is already a project. From here, it must be explored whether there is consensus to make changes. 99% of the people I talk to understand this. Without dialogue, it is impossible for a bid to be finalised." Asked about the possibility of Aragon not continuing as part of the proposal - after Blanco emphasized that the current plan had been endorsed by all parties, including the Aragonese delegation, from the technical commission - and that this could imply that there would be a stand-alone candidacy from Catalonia, the Spanish Olympic head stated that this option is not being considered. "There are territories in Aragon that want to take part in these Games, the joint candidacy is the most powerful scenario and I cannot give up this ideal. It is true that there is a disagreement with one party, but we will see if further meetings can lead us to a final agreement, "said Blanco.
COE comes down hard on Aragon
To explain what led to the breakdown of negotiations for the joint Catalonia-Aragon candidacy project, Alejandro Blanco gave a long explanation of the process of constructing a Pyrenean games bid going back to 2010. When the proposal became concrete and the commission on a joint bid held six meetings in 2021, the first to be discussed was the distribution of snow events. "It was the delegation from Aragon who proposed that they should keep cross country skiing and biathlon, and Catalonia stated that they would welcome the alpine skiing. The agreement was quick," Blanco recalled. The point that was most difficult for the technical committee was over the ice sports, but after six meetings, the technical proposal was closed and "validated by all parties," with Aragon to hold 54 events with a total of 2,138 athletes, while Catalonia would be left with 42 disciplines and 2,608 participants.
It was at that point, said Alejandro Blanco, that political representatives were called together to validate the proposal, and the trouble began. "I received a letter from Javier Lambán stating that he did not agree with the distribution because there would be no activity in all three valleys of the Aragonese Pyrenees, one of them - Cerler - was left out." Blanco explained that there were then a further series of difficult meetings with political representatives, and finally a new proposal gave Cerler five events, with five skating events going to Barcelona in exchange, to retain the overall balance. "But there was no understanding. I saw that there was no possibility of continuing and that everything that was happening was seriously damaging the candidacy", including cancelling visit by IOC technicians "because we couldn't give this image of division." Meanwhile, the president of the COE regrets that "these technicians have already visited the facilities of other candidates."
Asked about possible deadlines, Alejandro Blanco acknowledges that they are "in a hurry", but that "there is no fixed deadline". Nevertheless, he pointed to June 1st as the key date to be able to convey to Thomas Bach, president of the IOC, Spain's intention to hold the Games. "Bach will have to leave Madrid with the certainty that we are still in the race," he said.