2008 in France

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

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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. [ [http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5giKcI3QP0XalF1HcFaYMcTi9DWlA AFP Announcement, in French] ]
*9 March and 16 March - Cantonal elections held. [ [http://vosdroits.service-public.fr/particuliers/F1939.xhtml?&n=Elections&l=N4&n=Elections%20politiques&l=N47 Official Calendar (in French)] ]
*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)".
* October : Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier - the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

Arts and Literature

* Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis : best French box office in France.
*Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio : the 2008 Nobel Prize in Literature

port

*22 June - French Grand Prix.
*5 July to 27 July - Tour de France. [ [http://www.letour.fr Le Tour de France 2008] ]
*Beach Soccer World Cup in Marseille [ [http://fr.fifa.com/beachsoccerworldcup/news/newsid=582652.html FIFA web site] ]

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