2016 in France

Incumbents

• President – François Hollande
• Prime Minister – Manuel Valls, Bernard Cazeneuve

  Events

• 1 January –
• * 9 regions of France are suppressed, from 27 to 18.
• * Creation of the Métropole du Grand Paris.
• * Inauguration of the Université Grenoble Alpes.
• 27 January – Jean-Jacques Urvoas is appointed to be Minister of Justice.
• 11 February – Former Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault is appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development.
• 26 February – 41st César Awards.
• 8 March – Laurent Fabius takes over as President of the Constitutional Council; Michel Pinault and Corinne Luquiens enter as simple members.
• 31 March – Nuit debout begins at the Place de la République, Paris.
• 6 April – En Marche!, a liberal centrist political party, is founded by Emmanuel Macron in Amiens.
• 20 May – Introduction of plain packaging for cigarettes and tobacco products.
• 11 May – Beginning of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.
• 10 June – Opening of the UEFA Euro 2016 in 10 French cities.
• 26 June – Referendum in the Loire-Atlantique department about the Aéroport du Grand Ouest; 55% of the voters accept the project.
• 3 July – Opening of the LGV Est.
• 13 July - In Magnanville, a police officer and his wife are fatally stabbed as they are leaving for home after work.
• 14 July – During Nice's Bastille Day celebrations a 19-ton van crashes into crowds, killing at least 84 people and injuring almost 200.
• 24 July – The 2016 Tour de France ends in Paris.
• 26 July – A priest and other churchgoers are taken hostage by two knife-wielding attackers in the town of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray before the police killed them. The archbishop of Rouen identifies the assassinated priest as 84-year-old Jacques Hamel.
• 5 August - 177 athletes from France begin to compete at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
• 5 August - The Braderie de Lille is cancelled due to terrorist threats.
• 6 August – Thirteen people are killed in a fire in Rouen.
• 8 August – The El Khomri law is signed by President Hollande.
• 12 August – The mayor of Cannes bans the Islamic Burkini the swimsuits, citing a possible link to Islamic extremism. At least 20 other French towns, including Nice, subsequently joined the ban.
• 30 August – Emmanuel Macron resigns from his position as Minister of the Economy.
• 23 August – Laurent Wauquiez becomes president of The Republicans party ad interim.
• 4 September – Notre Dame Cathedral bombing attempt.
• 9 September – Opening of the fête de l'Humanité.
• 1 October – Beginning of the 2016 Paris Motor Show.
• 7 November – Yannick Jadot wins the Europe Ecology – The Greens primary and becomes the party's candidate for the 2017 French presidential election.
• 13 November – A thousands of French people marks the first anniversary of last year attacks in Paris since World War II.
• 27 November – Former Prime Minister François Fillon wins the right-wing primary for the 2017 French presidential election.
• 1 December – President François Hollande announces he will not seek reelection in April 2017.
• 6 December – Bernard Cazeneuve is appointed to be prime minister.
• 19 December – The Law Court of the Republic founds IMF managing director Christine Lagarde guilty of negligence during her time as Minister of Finance.

  Deaths

January

• 1 JanuaryJacques Deny, mathematician
• 2 JanuaryMichel Delpech, singer-songwriter and actor
• 4 January
• * André Turcat, aviator
• * Michel Galabru, actor
• 5 January
• * Tancrède Melet, tightrope walker
• * Pierre Boulez, composer, conductor and writer
• 6 JanuaryYves Vincent, actor
• 7 JanuaryAndré Courrèges, fashion designer
• 15 JanuaryRobert Darène, film director and actor
• 18 January
• * Michel Tournier, writer
• * Leila Alaoui, artist and photographer
• 20 JanuaryEdmonde Charles-Roux, writer
• 21 JanuaryRobert Sassone, road racing cyclist
• 23 JanuaryBernard Quennehen, road racing cyclist
• 28 JanuaryEmile Destombes, Roman Catholic bishop
• 29 JanuaryJacques Rivette, film director and film critic
• 31 JanuaryBenoît Violier, chef

  February

• 1 FebruaryBernard Piras, politician
• 7 FebruaryJuliette Benzoni, writer
• 8 FebruaryViolette Verdy, ballerina
• 17 FebruaryClaude Jeancolas, author

  March

• 1 MarchJean Miotte, abstract painter
• 1 MarchCarole Achache, writer, photographer and actress

  April

• 1 AprilAndré Villers, photographer
• 15 AprilAnne Grommerch, politician

  May

• 1 MayJean-Marie Girault, politician
• 5 MaySiné, political cartoonist

  July

• 1 JulyYves Bonnefoy, poet
• 2 JulyMichel Rocard, former Prime Minister