French apathy and cost concerns dampen mayors' bid to stoke Games fervour

LA BAULE-ESCOUBLAC, France : When a group of mayors paid tens of thousands of euros each to bring the Olympic torch to their towns along France's Atlantic coast, a row erupted over whether the cost represented value for money at a time when public spending is under pressure.

Franck Louvrier, the conservative mayor of La Baule-Escoublac, a well-heeled coastal resort in the western Loire Atlantique department which will host the torch on Wednesday for an overnight stop, said he hoped the flame's arrival would "excite the taste buds" and boost off-season tourism.

But the resistance he and other Loire Atlantique mayors have met reflects a broader French apathy about the upcoming Games, as well as concerns about the cost of hosting the Paris event.

In an interview in his office, overlooking La Baule's yawning Atlantic bay, Louvrier said the 60,000 euros ($65,028.00) paid to the Paris Olympics Organising Committee (COJOP) had made little dent in the town's roughly 60-million-euro annual budget.

"There was no credible argument for missing this global event," said Louvrier in his glass corner office decorated with Playmobil Napoleons. "Refusing it would have been a major mistake for everyone."

Nearly 40 per cent of French people are indifferent about the Olympics, while 37 per cent have a negative view of the Games, according to a May 31 Ifop poll. Less than a quarter of respondents were enthusiastic about the event, the survey showed, even if past Olympics suggest the mood will lift once the Games begin on July 26.

Not everyone in La Baule, home to some 17,000 people, cheered Louvrier's decision.

Anne Boye, an opposition socialist member of La Baule's council, said Louvrier's outlay was indefensible, especially as the town's 15