2008 in France

This article lists events from the year 2008 in France.

← 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2008 in France → 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Decades:	1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s
See also:	Other events in 2008 History of France · Timeline · Years

Incumbents

• President: Nicolas Sarkozy
• Prime Minister: François Fillon

Events

• 1 January – Smoking banned in all public places (including bars and restaurants) in France.
• 2 February – Wedding of Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni.
• 9 and 16 March – Cantonal elections held.
• 12 March – Lazare Ponticelli, the country's last surviving First World War veteran, dies aged 110 – eight months before the 90th anniversary of the Armistice.
• April – The Citroën C5 sedan is launched, whilst the station wagon was launched in May.
• 1 April – 2008 French mistaken virginity case
• 1 July – France assumes the Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
• 2 July – Íngrid Betancourt and 14 other hostages are rescued from FARC by Colombian security forces.
• 13 July – First meeting of Mediterranean Union, in Paris
• 10 September – Activation of Large Hadron Collider, localized between France and Switzerland
• 4 October – 50th Anniversary of the French Constitution of 1958 (French Fifth Republic).
• 27 November – XL Airways Germany Flight 888T crashed on a Mediterranean Sea, near Canet-en-Roussillon around Perpignan, killed seven people.
• October : Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier – the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• December: – First album of the series Je n'aime pas le classique, mais ça j'aime bien! was released
• Undated
  • Black music, des chaînes de fer aux chaînes d'or documentary film is released.
  • Yeallow, French indie rock band from Strasbourg is formed.

Deaths

January

• 3 January – Henri Chopin, avant-garde poet and musician (born 1922).
• 5 January – Raymond Forni, Socialist politician (born 1941).
• 5 January – Louis Hon, soccer player (born 1924).
• 7 January – Maryvonne Dupureur, Olympic athlete (born 1937).
• 7 January – Marcel Mouly, artist (born 1918).
• 7 January – Jean-Claude Vrinat, restaurateur (born 1936).
• 12 January – Louis Alexandre Raimon, hair stylist (born 1922).
• 16 January – Raymond Cambefort, one of the last three fully verified World War I veterans living in France (born 1900).
• 16 January – Pierre Lambert, Trotskyist leader (born 1920).
• 17 January – Carlos, singer, entertainer and actor (born 1943).
• 17 January – Madeleine Milhaud, actress (born 1902).
• 20 January – Louis de Cazenave, at the time of his death, the oldest French poilu still alive (born 1897).
• 29 January – Philippe Khorsand, actor (born 1948).

February

• 2 February – Roger Testu, cartoonist (born 1913).
• 6 February – Gwenc'hlan Le Scouëzec, writer and Grand Druid of Brittany (born 1929).
• 12 February – Jean Prouff, soccer player and manager (born 1919).
• 13 February – Henri Salvador, singer (born 1917).
• 13 February – Roger Voisin, trumpeter (born 1918).
• 18 February – Alain Robbe-Grillet, writer and filmmaker (born 1922).
• 19 February – Jean-Michel Bertrand, politician (born 1943).
• 28 February – Gérard Calvet, Roman Catholic abbot (born 1927).

March

• 12 March – Lazare Ponticelli, last surviving official French veteran of the First World War (born 1897).
• 17 March – Roland Arnall, businessman and diplomat in the United States (born 1939).
• 19 March – Chantal Sébire, teacher and euthanasia campaigner (born 1955).
• 25 March – Thierry Gilardi, football and rugby commentator (born 1958).
• 26 March – Christian Bergelin, politician (born 1945).
• 27 March – Jean-Marie Balestre, sports executive (born 1921).
• 30 March – Marie-Françoise Audollent, actress (born 1943).

April

• 9 April – Jacques Morel, actor (born 1922).
• 11 April – Claude Abbes, international soccer player (born 1927).
• 17 April – Aimé Césaire, poet, author and politician (born 1913).
• 19 April – Germaine Tillion, anthropologist (born 1907).
• 20 April – Farid Chopel, actor, comedian and singer (born 1952).
• 23 April – Jean-Daniel Cadinot, film director and producer (born 1944).

May

• 9 May – Pascal Sevran, TV presenter and author (born 1945).
• 10 May – Paul Haeberlin, chef and restaurateur (born 1923).

June

• 1 June – Yves Saint Laurent, fashion designer (born 1936).
• 6 June – Paul Tessier, surgeon (born 1917).
• 11 June – Jean Desailly, actor (born 1920).
• 18 June – Jean Delannoy, actor, screenwriter and film director (born 1908).
• 26 June – Lilyan Chauvin, actress and writer (born 1925).
• 27 June – Frédéric Botton, lyricist and composer (b. c1937).
• 27 June – Raymond Lefèvre, orchestra leader, arranger and composer (born 1929).

July

• 10 July – Bernard Cahier, Formula One photo-journalist (born 1927).
• 28 July – Pierre Berès, bookseller and antiquarian book collector (born 1913).

September

• 17 September – Patrick Alexandroni, actor, rapper, and television producer (born 1962)

October

• 13 October – Guillaume Depardieu Actor
• 20 October – Soeur Emmanuelle

November

• 1 November – Jacques Lunis, athlete (born 1923).

See also

• 2008 in French television
• List of French films of 2008

Links

Media related to 2008 in France at Wikimedia Commons