See also: 2007 in France, other events of 2008, 2009 in France.

Events from the year 2008 in France.

Incumbents

• President - Nicolas Sarkozy
• Prime Minister - François Fillon
• Interior Minister - Michèle Alliot-Marie
• Finance Minister - Christine Lagarde
• Foreign Minister - Bernard Kouchner

Events

• 1 January - Smoking banned in all public places (including bars and restaurants) in France.
• 2 February - Wedding of Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni. ^[1]
• 9 March and 16 March - Cantonal elections held. ^[2]
• 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
• 4 October - 50th Anniversary of the French Constitution of 1958 (French Fifth Republic).

Arts and Literature

• Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis : best French box office in France.

Sport

• 22 June - French Grand Prix.
• 5 July to 27 July - Tour de France. ^[3]
• Beach Soccer World Cup in Marseille ^[4]

Births

Deaths

January

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

February

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

March

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

April

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

May

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

June

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

July

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

References