French Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra has said her budget will not be cut after Paris 2024 ©Getty Images

French Sports Minister Amélie Oudéa-Castéra has said the budget for sport in the country will not be cut following the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Élisabeth Borne, the French Prime Minister, has asked all departments to identify savings in their 2024 budgets with the target of a five per cent reduction.

Any cut in the sports budget would be seen as a blow to Paris 2024 legacy hopes of promoting an active lifestyle and healthy living.

But Oudéa-Castéra said her budget would not decrease when speaking to RMC Sport.

"Absolutely not," she said.

"All the elements of public policy put in place in the territories are here to stay.

"Everything in its own time.

"I would then come before Parliament to defend our choices for the 2024 financial year."

French Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne has called on departments to cut their 2024 budgets ©Getty Images
French Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne has called on departments to cut their 2024 budgets ©Getty Images

Le Monde reported that discussions on the sports budget in the autumn had led to fears that there would be a 20 per cent decrease, excluding Paris 2024 finances.

However, Oudéa-Castéra said that this was only an "indicative presentation" and that there would be "new discussions and new arbitrations".

"The Olympic Games do not constitute a period of overheating that we would allow ourselves before folding the sails," she said. 

"It will be necessary to continue the work undertaken after the Olympics."

Socialist Party member Claudia Rouaux said that if the requirement of the Ministry of Finance to reduce appropriations is applied to sport, then "the appropriations dedicated to sport will decrease".