2004 in France

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

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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 DC 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.cite book|last=Williams|first=Hywel|title=Cassell's Chronology of World History|publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson|year=2005|isbn=0-304-35730-8|pages=656–660]
*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.
*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.
*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

port

*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

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).
*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).
*Louis Bouyer, priest and writer (b.1913).
*Jean-Philippe Charbonnier, photographer (b.1921).
*Jean-Jacques Laffont, economist (b.1947).

References