1986 in France

Incumbents

• President: François Mitterrand
• Prime Minister: Laurent Fabius, Jacques Chirac

  Events

• 20 January – The United Kingdom and France announce plans to construct the Channel Tunnel, which is hoped to be open in the early 1990s.
• 12 February – Treaty of Canterbury, Anglo-French Treaty on the Channel Tunnel, is signed.
• 16 February – The French Air Force raids the Libyan Ouadi Doum airbase in northern Chad.
• 21 February – Launch of the Renault 21 saloon and Nevada estate, which replace the Renault 18.
• 16 March – Legislative Election held.
• 16 March – Regional Elections held.
• 1 April – Le Parisien, the French national newspaper, causes a brief public outrage by reporting that the Eiffel Tower will be relocated from its location in the centre of Paris to the Euro Disney development site to the east of the city. It is quickly discovered to be an April Fools' Day joke.
• May – Production of Talbot passenger cars by Peugeot in France and Britain is discontinued; it is now restricted to commercial vehicles and to Spanish and Finnish production of the Horizon model, which is due to finish next year.
• June – The Renault 4 finishes production in France after 25 years and is switched to Argentina where it is set to continue into the early 1990s.
• 2 October – Launch of the Citroën AX supermini.
• 17 November – Georges Besse, 58-year-old head of carmaker Renault, is shot dead outside his mansion in Paris; left-wing extremists are suspected of his murder.
• 6 December - Johnny Hallyday released his 35th album Gang.

  Births

January to March

• 21 January – Julien Jousse, motor racing driver.
• 13 February – Arnaud Lescure, soccer player.
• 14 February – Djamel Abdoun, soccer player.
• 24 February – Sébastien Rouault, freestyle swimmer
• 28 February – Dieudonné Owona, soccer player.
• 5 March – Alexandre Barthe, soccer player.
• 8 March – Aurélien Collin, soccer player.
• 19 March – Clément Lhotellerie, cyclist.

  April to June

• 15 April – Sylvain Marveaux, soccer player.
• 8 May – Marie de Villepin, socialite, model and actress.
• 11 May – Abou Diaby, soccer player.
• 21 May – Guillaume Loriot, soccer player.
• 13 June – DJ Snake, music producer
• 18 June – Richard Gasquet, tennis player.
• 20 June – Mathieu Coutadeur, soccer player.
• 21 June – Alexandre Raineau, soccer player.
• 25 June – Guillaume Quellier, soccer player.

  July to September

• 3 July – Romain Danzé, soccer player.
• 9 July – Sébastien Bassong, soccer player.
• 11 July – Jean-Christophe Napoléon, claimant to headship of the House of Bonaparte.
• 12 July – Didier Digard, soccer player.
• 27 July – François Braud, Nordic combined skier.
• 6 August – Jérôme Coppel, cyclist.
• 7 August – Alexis Allart, soccer player.
• 9 August – Romain Brégerie, soccer player.
• 11 August – Zoumana Bakayogo, soccer player.
• 13 August – Xavier Pentecôte, soccer player.
• 17 August – Julien Quercia, soccer player.
• 19 August – Arnaud Brocard, soccer player.
• 20 August
• *Pernelle Carron, ice dancer.
• *Damien Gaudin, cyclist.
• 1 September – Jean Sarkozy, regional councillor, son of President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy.
• 11 September – Cédric Avinel, soccer player.
• 16 September – Gaëtan Belaud, soccer player.

  October to December

• 9 October – Laure Manaudou, swimmer.
• 10 October – Pierre Rolland, cyclist.
• 17 October – Alexandre Bonnet, soccer player.
• 1 November – Arnaud Mignardi, rugby union player.
• 16 November – Maxime Médard, rugby union player.
• 11 November – François Trinh-Duc, rugby union player.
• 17 November – Alexis Vastine, boxer.
• 30 November – Abdoulaye Baldé, soccer player.
• 26 December – Hugo Lloris, football goalkeeper.

  Deaths

January to March

• 8 January – Pierre Fournier, cellist.
• 9 January – Michel de Certeau, Jesuit and scholar.
• 11 January – Roger Trinquier, army officer.
• 12 January – Marcel Arland, novelist, literary critic and journalist.
• 14 January
• *Daniel Balavoine, singer and songwriter.
• *Thierry Sabine, motor cycle racer.
• 23 January – Yvonne Lefébure, pianist.
• 19 February – André Leroi-Gourhan, archaeologist, paleontologist, paleoanthropologist and anthropologist.
• 22 February – Jacques Pâris de Bollardière, General.
• 23 March – Étienne Mattler, international soccer player.

  April to June

• 14 April – Simone de Beauvoir, author and philosopher.
• 15 April – Jean Genet, writer and political activist.
• 17 April – Marcel Dassault, aircraft industrialist.
• 24 April – Wallis, Duchess of Windsor wife of Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor.
• 29 April – Henri de France, pioneering television inventor.
• 7 May – Gaston Defferre, politician.
• 5 June – Henri Michel, historian.
• 16 June
• *Christian Beullac, politician and Minister.
• *Maurice Duruflé, composer and organist.
• 19 June – Coluche, comedian and actor.

  July to September

• 1 July – Jean Baratte, soccer player and manager.
• 14 July – Raymond Loewy, industrial designer.
• 17 July – Pierre Langlais, military officer.
• 14 August – Pierre Bertaux, Germanist.
• 15 August – Louis Peglion, cyclist.
• 9 September – Albert Malet, painter.
• 12 September – Jacques Henri Lartigue, photographer and painter.

  October to December

• 11 October – Georges Dumézil, philologist.
• 26 October – Marcel Simon, historian.
• 1 November – Pierre Repp, humorist and actor.
• 13 November – Thierry Le Luron, impersonator and humorist.
• 17 November – Georges Besse, businessman, assassinated.
• 27 November – Philippe Viannay, journalist.
• 27 December – André Cailleux, paleontologist and geologist.

  Full date unknown

• Jacques Baron, poet.
• Roger Trézel, bridge player.