1994 in France

Incumbents

• President: François Mitterrand
• Prime Minister: Édouard Balladur

  Events

• 20 March – Cantonales Elections held.
• 24 March – Cantonales Elections held.
• 20 April – Paul Touvier is found guilty of ordering the execution of seven Jews at Rillieux-la-Pape in June 1944, becoming the first French national to be charged with crimes against humanity committed during the German occupation of France in the Second World War.
• 6 May – The Channel Tunnel is opened by President François Mitterrand and Elizabeth II in two separate ceremonies held in Calais and Folkestone.
• 12 June – European Parliament election held in France.
• 30 June – Airbus A330 test flight crash in Toulouse, killing 3 crew and 4 passengers.
• 4 August – Toubon Law enacted.
• 3 November – A French magazine publishes photo of President François Mitterrand's secret daughter.
• 13 November – The first passengers travel through the Channel Tunnel.
• December 7 L'étrange Noël de monsieur Jack on French Movie Theater
• 24 December – Air France Flight 8969 is hijacked in Algiers airport.
• 26 December – Air France aircraft is flown to Marseille and stormed by the GIGN, 4 hijackers and 3 others were killed.

  Arts and literature

Sport

• 2 July – Tour de France begins. Two stages take place in England.
• 3 July – Michael Schumacher wins the French Grand Prix held at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours.
• 24 July – Tour de France ends, won by Miguel Indurain of Spain.

  Births

• 19 January - Adrien Hunou, footballer
• 23 January - Wesley Jobello, footballer
• 13 February - Axel Reymond, Marathon swimmer
• 3 March - Abdoulaye Touré, footballer.
• 27 May - Aymeric Laporte, footballer
• 13 June - Guy-Elphège Anouman, sprinter
• 14 June - Romain Habran, footballer.
• 3 August - Corentin Tolisso, footballer
• 17 August - Tiémoué Bakayoko, footballer
• 15 September – Raphael Severe, clarinet player.
• 27 October - Kurt Zouma, footballer
• 8 November - Damien Dussaut, footballer.

  Deaths

January to March

• 2 January – Pierre-Paul Schweitzer, fourth managing director of the International Monetary Fund.
• 15 January – Gabriel-Marie Garrone, Cardinal.
• 22 January – Jean-Louis Barrault, actor, director and mime artist.
• 24 January – Yves Navarre, writer.
• 27 January – Alain Daniélou, historian, musicologist and Indologist.
• 30 January – Pierre Boulle, novelist.
• 11 February – Max Leognany, artist.
• 16 February – François Marty, Roman Catholic Cardinal.
• 24 February – Jean Sablon, singer and actor.
• 9 March – Paul Dubreil, mathematician.
• 28 March – Eugène Ionesco, Romanian-born playwright.
• 31 March – Henri Gouhier, philosopher, historian of philosophy and literary critic.

  April to June

• 1 April – Robert Doisneau, photographer.
• 3 April – Jérôme Lejeune, paediatrician and geneticist.
• 9 April – Marcel Ichac, alpinist, explorer, photographer and film director.
• 14 April – Jean Joyet, painter.
• 17 April – Gaston Charlot, chemist.
• 20 April – Jean Carmet, actor.
• 29 April – Marcel Bernard, tennis player.
• 16 May – Alain Cuny, actor.
• 19 May – Jacques Ellul, philosopher, sociologist, theologian.
• 3 June – Puig Aubert, rugby league footballer.
• 14 June – Marcel Mouloudji, singer and actor.
• 16 June – Bernard Moitessier, yachtsman and author.
• 27 June – Jacques Berthier, composer.

  July to September

• 8 July – Christian-Jaque, filmmaker.
• 17 July – Jean Borotra, tennis player.
• 19 August – Louis de Froment, conductor.
• 16 September – Albert Decourtray, Roman Catholic Cardinal.
• 23 September – Madeleine Renaud, actress.
• 30 September – André Michel Lwoff, microbiologist, awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1965.

  October to December

• 15 October – Jean Dasté, actor and theatre director.
• 21 October – Benoît Régent, actor.
• 30 November
• *Guy Debord, Marxist theorist, writer and filmmaker.
• *Louis Gabrillargues, soccer player.
• 7 December – Pierre Cloarec, cyclist.
• 13 December – Antoine Pinay, politician and Prime Minister of France.
• 18 December – Roger Apéry, mathematician.
• 25 December – Pierre Dreyfus, civil servant and businessman.

  Full date unknown

• Raymond Molinier, Trotskyist.