2012 in France

Events from the year 2012 in France:

Incumbents

11 January – French journalist Gilles Jacquier is killed in Homs, Syria after coming under fire whilst reporting the Syrian civil war for France 2. He is the first Western casualty of the conflict.^[1]
13 January – Standard & Poor's downgrades France's credit rating from AAA to AA+.^[2]
23 January – The Senate passes a bill criminalising the denial of the Armenian genocide.^[3]

22 February – The term 'mademoiselle' is removed from official documents following a campaign by feminist organisations.^[4]
28 February – The Constitutional Council rules that the bill criminalising denial of the Armenian genocide infringes on freedom of speech, and is therefore unconstitutional. In response, Nicolas Sarkozy orders a redraft of the bill.^[5]

March 22 – Mohammed Merah, responsible for the Toulouse and Montauban shootings, is killed during his arrest.

May 6 – François Hollande is elected as the new president of France.
May 15 – François Hollande is sworn in as president of France; he will serve only one term.
May 27 – June 11 – 2012 French Open is held.

July 13 – A private jet crash in southern France, causing the death of 3 people.^[6]
July 16 – Commission on renewal and ethics in public life is formed by François Hollande on.^[7]

1 January – Marcelle Narbonne, 113, supercentenarian, oldest European living person
5 January – François-Marie Algoud, 91, royalist and author
7 January – Henri Puppo, 98, cyclist
8 January – Françoise Christophe, 88, actress
9 January – Christian-Joseph Guyonvarc'h, 85, philologist
11 January – Gilles Jacquier, 43, journalist
14 January
- Mila Parély, 94, actress
- Rosy Varte, 88, actress
16 January – Pierre Goubert, 96, historian
22 January – André Green , 84, psychoanalyst
14 February – Henri-Germain Delauze, 82, engineer and diver, founder of COMEX
15 February – Jacques Duby, 89, actor
22 February – Rémi Ochlik, 28, photographer
25 February – Maurice André, 78, trumpeter (born 1933)
28 March – Eduard Steinberg, 75, painter (born 1937)
3 June – Jean-Louis Richard, 85, French film director^[8]
29 July – Chris Marker, 91, artist (born 1921)

^ Samuel, Henry (11 January 2012). "Syria: French journalist killed in Homs". The Telegraph. London: Telegraph Media Group. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
^ "France loses AAA rating as euro governments downgraded". BBC News. BBC. 13 January 2012. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
^ Willsher, Kim (23 January 2012). "Armenian genocide denial to be banned in France as senators approve new law". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
^ Sayare, Scott (22 February 2012). "'Mademoiselle' Exits Official France". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
^ "French genocide law 'unconstitutional' rules court". France24. 28 February 2012. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
^ "Official: 3 Americans die as private jet crashes in France". CNN. 2012-07-13. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
^ "Décret n° 2012-875 du 16 juillet 2012 portant création d'une commission de rénovation et de déontologie de la vie publique" [Decree No. 2012-875 of 16 July 2012 establishing a commission renewal and ethics in public life] (in French). LegiFrance. Retrieved 12 November 2014.
^ "RICHARD Jean-Louis" (in French). Les gens du cinéma. Retrieved 15 June 2012.

Media related to 2012 in France at Wikimedia Commons