2004 in France
Events from the year 2004 in France.Incumbents
- President – Jacques Chirac
- Prime Minister – Jean-Pierre Raffarin
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, D.C. 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.
- 20 February – The insecticide Regent, from BASF, is banned in France for its implication in Pollinator decline.
- 1 March – French troops are deployed to Haiti.
- 21 – 28 March – Regional elections held, in which the government of Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin suffers a stunning and unprecedented defeat.
- 5 April – Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom, 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 Airport collapses, claiming at least 6 lives.
- 27 May – Peugeot launches the 407 range of sedans, estates and coupes. It replaces the successful 406.
- 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.
- 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
- 26 December – 95 French people are among thousands of people killed and 189 seriously injured by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
Arts and literature
Sport
January to March
- 3 January – Pierre Flamion, soccer player and manager.
- 8 January – Franck Ténot, press agent, pataphysician and jazz critic.
- 15 January
- *Robert-Ambroise-Marie Carré, priest and author.
- *André Barrais, basketball player.
- 22 January – Ticky Holgado, actor.
- 13 February – François Tavenas, academic in Canada.
- 18 February – Jean Rouch, filmmaker and anthropologist.
- 21 February – Alex Métayer, comedian.
- 25 February – Jacques Georges, soccer administrator.
- 4 March – Claude Nougaro, singer and songwriter.
- 13 March – René Laloux, animator and film director.
- 28 March – Robert Merle, novelist.
April to June
- 25 April – Jacques Rouxel, animator.
- 28 April – Patrick Berhault, mountain climber.
- April – Daniel Bernard, diplomat.
- 1 May Jean-Jacques Laffont, economist.
- 2 May – Paul Guimard, writer.
- 28 May – Jean-Philippe Charbonnier, photographer.
- 29 May – Gérard de Sède, author.
- 31 May – Étienne Roda-Gil, songwriter and screenwriter.
- 10 June – Antoine Argoud, twice attempted to assassinate Charles de Gaulle.
- 11 June – Michel Roche, equestrian.
- 18 June – André Gillois, writer and radio pioneer.
July to September
- 9 July – Jean Lefebvre, actor.
- 17 July – Lucien Leduc, soccer player and manager.
- 18 July – Émile Peynaud, oenologist and researcher.
- 24 July – Claude Ballif, composer.
- 28 July – Bernard Saint-Hillier, General.
- 3 August – Henri Cartier-Bresson, photographer.
- 4 August – Cécile Guillame, first woman who engraved French postal stamps.
- 9 August – Robert Lecourt, jurist, fourth President of the European Court of Justice.
- 17 August – Gérard Souzay, baritone.
- 20 August – Amelie Delagrange, murder victim.
- 29 August – Jean-Louis Nicot, Air Force officer involved in the Algiers putsch.
- 8 September – Raymond Marcellin, politician.
- 9 September – Jean-Daniel Pollet, film director and screenwriter.
- 24 September – Françoise Sagan, playwright, novelist and screenwriter.
- 25 September – Alain Glavieux, professor in electrical engineering.
- 29 September – Richard Sainct, Rally Raid Motorcycle rider.
October to December
- October – Jacques Noël, fencer.
- 3 October – Jacques Benveniste, immunologist.
- 8 October – Jacques Derrida, philosopher.
- 22 October – Louis Bouyer, priest and writer.
- 27 October
- *Pierre Béarn, writer.
- *Claude Helffer, pianist.
- 26 November – Philippe de Broca, film director.
- 31 December – Gérard Debreu, economist and mathematician, won 1983 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics.
