2004 in France

See also: 2003 in France, other events of 2004, 2005 in France.

Events from the year 2004 in France.

Incumbents

• President - Jacques Chirac
• Prime Minister - Jean-Pierre Raffarin
• Interior Minister - Nicolas Sarkozy then Dominique de Villepin
• Finance Minister - Francis Mer then Nicolas Sarkozy
• Foreign Minister - Dominique de Villepin then Michel Barnier

Events

• 2 January - Flash Airlines Flight 604 headed for Cairo crashes into the Red Sea. All 148 people on board are killed, of whom more than 120 were French tourists.
• 30 January - Former Prime Minister and current Mayor of Bordeaux, Alain Juppe, is convicted of a party funding scam in the 1980s and early 1990s.
• 31 January - Air France and British Airways cancel five upcoming US flights to Washington, D.C. and Miami, Florida amid fears of Al-Qaida.
• 10 February - The French National Assembly votes to pass a law banning religious items and clothing from schools.^[1]
• 20 February - The insecticide Regent (fipronil), from BASF, is banned in France for its implication in Pollinator decline.
• 1 March - French troops are deployed to Haiti.
• 21 March–28 March - Regional elections held, in which the government of Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin suffers a stunning and unprecedented defeat.^[1]
• 5 April - Queen Elizabeth II begins a state visit to France in honour of the centennial of the Entente Cordiale. The following day, she addresses the French Senate.
• 22 April - The last coal mine in France closes, ending nearly 300 years of coal mining.
• 23 May - A section of the ceiling in Terminal 2E at Paris's Charles de Gaulle International Airport collapses, claiming at least 6 lives.
• 27 May - Peugeot launches the 407 range of sedans, estates and coupes. It replaces the successful 406.
• 8 June - The pickled heart of Louis XVII of France is buried in the royal crypt at Saint-Denis.
• 13 June - European Parliament election in France.
• July - France released five of six suspects after their repatriation from Guantanamo Bay detainment camp.
• 26 September - Senate election held.
• 6 November - Clash between the armed forces of Côte d'Ivoire and French peacekeepers takes place (see: 2004 Ivorian-French violence).
• 14 December - The world's tallest bridge, the Millau bridge over the River Tarn in the Massif Central mountains, is opened by President Jacques Chirac.

Arts and literature

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Sport

• 3 July - Tour de France begins.
• 4 July - French Grand Prix won by Michael Schumacher of Germany.
• 25 July - Tour de France ends, won by Lance Armstrong of the United States.

Births

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Deaths

January to March

• 3 January - Pierre Flamion, soccer player and manager (b.1924).
• 8 January - Franck Ténot, press agent, pataphysician and jazz critic (b.1925).
• 15 January - Robert-Ambroise-Marie Carré, priest and author (b.1908).
• 22 January - Ticky Holgado, actor (b.1944).
• 13 February - François Tavenas, academic in Canada (b.1942).
• 18 February - Jean Rouch, filmmaker and anthropologist (b.1917).
• 21 February - Alex Métayer, comedian.
• 25 February - Jacques Georges, soccer administrator (b.1916).
• 4 March - Claude Nougaro, singer and songwriter (b.1929).
• 13 March - René Laloux, animator and film director (b.1929).
• 28 March - Robert Merle, novelist (b.1908).

April to June

• 25 April - Jacques Rouxel, animator (b.1931).
• 28 April - Patrick Berhault, mountain climber.
• April - Daniel Bernard, diplomat (b.1941).
• 2 May - Paul Guimard, writer (b.1921).
• 29 May - Gérard de Sède, author (b.1921).
• 31 May - Étienne Roda-Gil, songwriter and screenwriter (b.1941).
• 10 June - Antoine Argoud, twice attempted to assassinate Charles de Gaulle (b.1914).
• 11 June - Michel Roche, equestrian (b.1939).
• 18 June - André Gillois, writer and radio pioneer (b.1902).

July to September

• 9 July - Jean Lefebvre, actor (b.1919).
• 17 July - Lucien Leduc, soccer player and manager (b.1918).
• 18 July - Émile Peynaud, oenologist and researcher (b.1912).
• 24 July - Claude Ballif, composer (b.1924).
• 28 July - Bernard Saint-Hillier, General (b.1911).
• 3 August - Henri Cartier-Bresson, photographer (b.1908).
• 4 August - Cécile Guillame, first woman who engraved French postal stamps (b.1933).
• 9 August - Robert Lecourt, jurist, fourth President of the European Court of Justice (b.1908).
• 17 August - Gérard Souzay, baritone (b.1918).
• 20 August - Amelie Delagrange, murder victim (b.1982).
• 29 August - Jean-Louis Nicot, Air Force officer involved in the Algiers putsch (b.1911).
• 8 September - Raymond Marcellin, politician (b.1914).
• 9 September - Jean-Daniel Pollet, film director and screenwriter (b.1936).
• 24 September - Françoise Sagan, playwright, novelist and screenwriter (b.1935).
• 25 September - Alain Glavieux, professor in electrical engineering.
• 29 September - Richard Sainct, Rally Raid Motorcycle rider (b.1970).

October to December

• 3 October - Jacques Benveniste, immunologist (b.1935).
• 8 October - Jacques Derrida, philosopher (b.1930).
• 27 October - Pierre Béarn, writer (b.1902).
• 27 October - Claude Helffer, pianist (b.1922).
• 26 November - Philippe de Broca, film director (b.1933).
• 31 December - Gérard Debreu, economist and mathematician, won 1983 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics (b.1921).

Full date unknown

• André Barrais, basketball player (b.1920).
• Jacques Noël, fencer (b.1920).
• Louis Bouyer, priest and writer (b.1913).
• Jean-Philippe Charbonnier, photographer (b.1921).
• Jean-Jacques Laffont, economist (b.1947).

References