2012 in France

Events from the year 2012 in France:

Incumbents

• President: Nicolas Sarkozy (until 16 May), François Hollande (starting 16 May)
• Prime Minister: François Fillon (until 16 May), Jean-Marc Ayrault (starting 16 May)

Events

January

• 11 January - French journalist Gilles Jacquier is killed in Homs, Syria after coming under fire whilst reporting the Syrian uprising 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]

February

• 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]

April

• April 22 - François Hollande and incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy are selected as second round competitors in the French presidential election, 2012.
• 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.

July

• Commission on renewal and ethics in public life is formed by François Hollande on 16 July 2012.^[6]

Arts and literature

Television

Sport

• 18–20 May - 2012 French motorcycle Grand Prix won by Jorge Lorenzo
• 27 May-11 June - 2012 French Open ("Roland Garros")
• 4–7 October - 2012 Rallye de France won by Sébastien Loeb

Deaths

• 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, 76, painter (born 1937)
• 29 July – Chris Marker, 91, artist (born 1921)

See also

• 2012 in French television
• List of French films of 2012

References

Years in France
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