Rome’s city council votes down 2024 Olympic bid

ROME — As far as city leaders are concerned, Rome’s bid for the 2024 Olympics is finished.

The city council voted in favour of scrapping the bid on Thursday, a week after Mayor Virginia Raggi rejected the candidacy, citing concerns over costs.

“It was irresponsible to say yes to the candidacy,” Raggi wrote on Facebook. “We wanted to say no to more debts for Rome and for Italy.”

The anti-bid motion passed easily, as expected, by 30-12 since Raggi’s antiestablishment 5-Star Movement holds a majority on the city council.

The 5-Star Movement holds 29 of the 48 council places, and all 29 voted in support of the mayor’s rejection. There was also one supporting vote from an opposition party. Six council members were absent.

The rejection leaves only Los Angeles, Paris, and Budapest, in the running for the 2024 Games. The IOC will decide on the host city in September 2017.