2015 in Europe

Events

January

• 1 January
• * Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes the 19th Eurozone country.
• * The Eurasian Economic Union between Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Armenia comes into effect.
• 3 January – The Islamic-rooted government of Turkey authorizes the building of the first church in the country since 1923.
• 4 January – Eight people are presumed dead after the Cyprus-flagged cargo ship MV Cemfjord capsizes off the northern coast of Scotland.
• 7 January – Gunmen attack the Paris office of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 people and injuring eleven.
• 9 January – A member of the Islamic State attacks a Hypercacher kosher supermarket at Porte de Vincennes, Paris, killing four people and taking several hostages.
• 11 January
• * More than 3.7 million people, among them 60 heads of states and governments, march in France to condemn recent terrorist attacks in Paris.
• * Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović becomes the first female President of Croatia.
• 13 January – A shell hits a bus in eastern Ukraine, killing 12 civilians and wounding 18 more.
• 14 January – Giorgio Napolitano, the longest-serving President of Italy, resigns due to age.
• 15 January – Swiss National Bank abandons the cap on the franc's value relative to euro, causing a turmoil in international financial markets.
• 24 January – At least 29 civilians are killed and 102 injured in a mortar attack on Mariupol, Ukraine.
• 25 January – The Coalition of the Radical Left wins a plurality of seats in the Greek legislative election and forms a coalition government with the Independent Greeks.
• 26 January – An F-16 jet belonging to the Hellenic Air Force crashes at Los Llanos Air Base, Spain, during a NATO exercise, killing ten people and injuring 21.
• 27 January – 92 policemen are injured and 180 protesters arrested as anti-government demonstrations in Pristina turn violent.
• 31 January – Italy's parliament elects constitutional court judge Sergio Mattarella as the country's president.

  February

• 12 February – The leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany reach a ceasefire deal after 17 hours of talks in Minsk, Belarus, on the War in Donbass.
• 14 February – Two people are killed in shootings at a free-speech seminar and at a synagogue service in Copenhagen.
• 18 February – Conservative Prokopis Pavlopoulos is elected President of Greece.
• 22 February – Two people are killed and 11 injured in an explosion at a peace rally in Kharkiv, Ukraine.
• 24 February – A Czech gunman opens fire at a restaurant in Uherský Brod, killing eight people.
• 27 February – Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov is assassinated in Moscow. The murder of former deputy PM is condemned by world leaders and sparks protests in Russia.

  March

• 1 March – The Estonian Reform Party, led by Prime Minister Taavi Rõivas, wins the country's parliamentary election.
• 4 March – 33 people are killed and 14 injured following an explosion at Zasyadko coal mine in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine.
• 12 March
• * Iceland formally withdraws its candidacy to the European Union, filed in 2009 and frozen since 2013. The move is met with protests from civil society.
• * 30 people are feared dead and 40 more injured after a shopping center in Kazan collapses in a fire.
• 20 March – A solar eclipse is visible across much of Europe, with totality over the Faroe Islands and Svalbard.
• 24 March – Germanwings Flight 9525 crashes in the French Alps, killing all 150 people on board.

  April

• 1 April – The Russian-flagged fishing trawler Dalniy Vostok sinks off the Kamchatka Peninsula, with 57 confirmed dead and 12 missing.
• 12–14 April – A series of wildfires in Southern Siberia kill 29 people and leave thousands homeless.
• 14 April – Up to 400 illegal migrants from Libya drown after their boat capsizes in the Mediterranean Sea.
• 19 April – As many as 700 people are feared dead after a boat carrying migrants capsizes in the Mediterranean Sea.
• 24 April – 14 migrants believed to be from Afghanistan and Somalia are hit by a train and killed while walking along railway tracks in Macedonia.

  May

• 1 May – Expo 2015 opens in Milan, with 145 countries participating. Widespread rioting occurs in Milan as students protesting overspending clash with police.
• 5 May – 38 police officers and one protester are injured in Skopje in opposition-organized protests against conservative Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski's government.
• 7 May – The UK's Conservative Party, led by David Cameron, wins a majority of seats in the House of Commons.
• 10 May – Eight police officers and 14 alleged members of an armed group are killed in fighting in Kumanovo, Macedonia.
• 22 May – Ireland becomes the first country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage by constitutional referendum.
• 23 May – Sweden's Måns Zelmerlöw wins the 60th annual Eurovision Song Contest with electro-pop ballad "Heroes".
• 24 May – Opposition candidate Andrzej Duda is elected President of Poland.
• 27 May – Two separate criminal probes result in the arrest of seven FIFA officials and the raid of its headquarters by Swiss police.

  June

• 5 June – Two people are killed and over 100 wounded in explosions at a rally by the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party in Diyarbakır.
• 7–8 June – The 41st G7 summit is held in Schloss Elmau, Bavaria.
• 14 June – Flooding in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, kills at least 19 people and releases zoo animals into the streets.
• 18 June – The centre-right opposition bloc led by Venstre wins the Danish general election, even though the Social Democratic party remains Denmark's largest.
• 24 June – 25 people are injured and at least 240 arrested in clashes between protesters and law enforcers over proposed electricity price increase in Armenian capital, Yerevan.
• 26 June – A man is decapitated and 12 others injured as a follower of the Islamic State group attacks an Air Products factory in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier.

  July

• 1 July – Greece becomes the first advanced economy to miss a payment to the International Monetary Fund.
• 13 July – At least three people die and 13 others are injured in skirmish in the western Ukrainian town of Mukachevo.
• 20 July – A suicide attack targeting activists in the Turkish town of Suruç kills at least 30 people and injures 100 more.
• 22 July – A high-speed train collides with a truck in the eastern Czech Republic, leaving three passengers dead and 17 injured.
• 24 July – An explosion at a fireworks factory in Modugno, Italy, kills at least seven people.

  August

• 5 August – Some 400 migrants are rescued and 25 bodies recovered after a fishing boat carrying an estimated 600 capsizes in the Mediterranean Sea.
• 19 August – EU finance ministers formally approve the first tranche of a new €86 billion bailout for Greece after parliaments in member states back the move.
• 20 August
• * Two planes carrying dozens of parachutists collide mid-air over western Slovakia, killing seven people. 31 others on board survive by jumping out with their parachutes.
• * Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras submits his resignation and calls for early elections.
• * Macedonia declares a state of emergency on its southern and northern borders over a surge in migrants and refugees.
• 22 August – Eleven people are killed when a Hawker Hunter crashes onto a busy road during an airshow in Shoreham-by-Sea, United Kingdom.
• 27 August – Up to 71 refugees are found dead in the back of a freezer truck in eastern Austria.

  September

• 9 September – Queen Elizabeth II becomes the longest-reigning British head of state, surpassing the reign of her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria.
• 13 September – At least 34 migrants drown in the Aegean Sea off the coasts of Farmakonissi trying to reach Europe.
• 15 September – The Hungarian government declares a state of emergency to cope with the influx of refugees, as almost 10,000 people are detained for illegally crossing the border from Serbia.
• 23 September – Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn resigns after company officials admit widespread rigging of diesel emissions test results.

  October

• 4 October
• * Violent storms and flooding hit south-eastern France, killing at least 20 people with two more missing.
• * Portugal's governing centre-right coalition wins the country's general election, which has been widely seen as a referendum on four years of austerity.
• 10 October
• * At least 97 people are killed and more than 400 others injured in twin bombings at a peace rally in Ankara, Turkey.
• * 250,000 people protest in Berlin against the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership accord between the European Union and the United States.
• 11 October – Alexander Lukashenko is re-elected President of Belarus for a fifth term.
• 22 October – A masked man armed with a sword kills a teacher and a student in an attack at a school in Trollhättan, Sweden, before police fatally shoot him.
• 23 October – At least 43 people are killed in a head-on collision between a bus and a truck near the French town of Puisseguin.
• 30 October – A fire at a nightclub in downtown Bucharest kills 59 people and injures 152 more.

  November

• 4 November – Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta and his government resign after mass protests over Colectiv nightclub fire.
• 13 November – Following a World Anti-Doping Agency investigation, the IAAF suspends Russia from all international competition in the sport of athletics.
• 13/14 November – At least 130 people are killed in a series of coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris.
• 21 November – Nearly 2 million people on the Crimean Peninsula are without electricity after two transmission towers in Ukraine were damaged by explosions.
• 24 November – Tensions rise between Russia and Turkey, after a Russian Su-24 warplane is shot down by a Turkish Air Force F-16 near the border between Turkey and Syria.

  December

• 30 December-Poland's new conservative government by the Law and Justice Party proposed a media bill that would allow it to control public service broadcasters TVP and Polish Radio via a national media council close to the governmentThis was condemned by the European Federation of Journalists, European Broadcasting Union and Reporters Without Borders.

  Births

• 2 May – Princess Charlotte of Cambridge

  Deaths

January

• 1 January
• * Ulrich Beck, German sociologist
• * Boris Morukov, Russian astronaut
• 4 January – Pino Daniele, Italian singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 5 January – Jean-Pierre Beltoise, French racing driver
• 6 January – Vlastimil Bubník, Czech ice hockey player and footballer
• 7 January
• * Tadeusz Konwicki, Polish writer and film director
• * Cabu, French comic strip artist and caricaturist
• * Charb, French satirical caricaturist and journalist
• * Tignous, French cartoonist
• * Georges Wolinski, French Jewish cartoonist and comics writer
• 9 January – Józef Oleksy, 7th Prime Minister of Poland
• 10 January – Francesco Rosi, Italian film director
• 11 January
• * Anita Ekberg, Swedish actress and model
• * Jenő Buzánszky, Hungarian football player and coach
• 12 January – Elena Obraztsova, Russian opera singer
• 20 January – Edgar Froese, German musician
• 21 January – Leon Brittan, British politician and barrister
• 24 January – Otto Carius, German WWII tank commander
• 25 January – Demis Roussos, Greek singer
• 28 January – Yves Chauvin, French Nobel chemist
• 30 January
• * Geraldine McEwan, English actress
• * Zhelyu Zhelev, 2nd President of Bulgaria
• 31 January – Richard von Weizsäcker, President of Germany

  February

• 1 February
• * Aldo Ciccolini, Italian-French pianist
• * Udo Lattek, German football player, coach and TV pundit
• 3 February – Martin Gilbert, English historian
• 5 February – Henri Coppens, Belgian footballer
• 10 February – Karl Josef Becker, German cardinal
• 14 February
• * Michele Ferrero, Italian entrepreneur
• * Louis Jourdan, French film and television actor
• * Franjo Mihalić, Croatian-Serbian runner and coach
• * Wim Ruska, Dutch wrestler and martial artist
• 18 February – Claude Criquielion, Belgian road bicycle racer
• 21 February – Aleksei Gubarev, Russian cosmonaut
• 27 February – Boris Nemtsov, Russian politician

  March

• 1 March – Wolfram Wuttke, German footballer
• 2 March – Dave Mackay, Scottish football player and manager
• 9 March
• * Camille Muffat, French swimmer
• * Alexis Vastine, French boxer
• * Frei Otto, German architect
• 11 March – Walter Burkert, German academician and author
• 12 March – Terry Pratchett, English author
• 15 March – Valentin Rasputin, Russian writer
• 16 March – Andy Fraser, English songwriter and bass guitarist
• 19 March – Gerda van der Kade-Koudijs, Dutch athlete
• 21 March
• * Hans Erni, Swiss graphic designer, painter, illustrator, engraver and sculptor
• * Jørgen Ingmann, Danish jazz and pop guitarist
• 26 March – Tomas Tranströmer, Swedish Nobel poet, psychologist and translator
• 29 March – Miroslav Ondříček, Czech cinematographer
• 30 March – Ingrid van Houten-Groeneveld, Dutch astronomer

  April

• 1 April – Cynthia Lennon, former wife of John Lennon
• 2 April – Manoel de Oliveira, Portuguese film director and screenwriter
• 4 April – Klaus Rifbjerg, Danish writer
• 13 April – Günter Grass, German Nobel writer
• 14 April – Roberto Tucci, Roman Catholic cardinal and theologian
• 16 April – Stanislav Gross, 5th Prime Minister of the Czech Republic
• 24 April – Władysław Bartoszewski, Polish politician and resistance fighter
• 29 April – Giovanni Canestri, Italian Catholic cardinal
• 30 April – Patachou, French singer and actress

  May

• 1 May – Geoff Duke, British motorcycle racer
• 2 May
• * Ruth Rendell, English author
• * Maya Plisetskaya, Russian ballerina, choreographer and actress
• 9 May – Kenan Evren, 7th President of Turkey
• 15 May – Renzo Zorzi, Italian racing driver
• 18 May
• * Halldór Ásgrímsson, Prime Minister of Iceland
• * Raymond Gosling, British scientist
• 21 May – Annarita Sidoti, Italian race walker
• 24 May – Tanith Lee, British writer
• 26 May – Vicente Aranda, Spanish film director, screenwriter and producer
• 27 May – Nils Christie, Norwegian sociologist and criminologist

  June

• 1 June – Charles Kennedy, British politician
• 4 June – Hermann Zapf, German typeface designer and calligrapher
• 6 June – Pierre Brice, French actor
• 7 June – Christopher Lee, English actor, singer and author
• 9 June – James Last, German composer and big band leader
• 11 June – Ron Moody, British actor
• 15 June – Jeanna Friske, Russian actress, singer, model and socialite
• 17 June – Süleyman Demirel, 9th President of Turkey
• 23 June – Magali Noël, French actress and singer
• 25 June
• * Nerses Bedros XIX Tarmouni, patriarch of the Armenian Catholic Church
• * Patrick Macnee, English actor
• 26 June – Yevgeny Primakov, Prime Minister of Russia
• 28 June – Chris Squire, English musician, singer and songwriter
• 29 June
• * Josef Masopust, Czech football player and coach
• * Charles Pasqua, French businessman and Gaullist politician

  July

• 1 July
• * Sergio Sollima, Italian film director and screenwriter
• * Nicholas Winton, British-born Jewish humanitarian
• 10 July – Roger Rees, Welsh actor and director
• 13 July – Martin Litchfield West, British classical scholar
• 14 July – Ildikó Schwarczenberger, Hungarian fencer
• 17 July − Jules Bianchi, French motor racing driver
• 21 July
• * Galina Prozumenshchikova, Soviet swimmer
• * Theodore Bikel, Austrian-American Jewish actor, folk singer, musician, composer and activist
• 30 July – Alena Vrzáňová, Czech figure skater

  August

• 1 August – Cilla Black, English singer, television presenter and actress
• 3 August – Robert Conquest, British-American historian and poet
• 11 August – Harald Nielsen, Danish footballer
• 12 August – Jaakko Hintikka, Finnish philosopher and logician
• 16 August – Mile Mrkšić, Serbian military officer
• 17 August
• * Arsen Dedić, Croatian singer-songwriter
• * László Paskai, Hungarian cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church
• 20 August – Egon Bahr, German politician
• 23 August – Guy Ligier, French rugby player and racing driver
• 24 August – Justin Wilson, British racing driver
• 30 August – Oliver Sacks, British neurologist and author

  September

• 12 September
• * Adrian Frutiger, Swiss typeface designer
• * Ron Springett, British football goalkeeper
• 14 September – Corneliu Vadim Tudor, Romanian poet, politician and journalist
• 17 September – Dettmar Cramer, German football player and coach
• 19 September – Jackie Collins, English romance novelist
• 23 September – Dragan Holcer, Croatian football defender
• 27 September
• * John Guillermin, British film director, writer and producer
• * Pietro Ingrao, Italian politician, journalist and former partisan
• 28 September – Ignacio Zoco, Spanish footballer

  October

• 2 October – Brian Friel, Irish playwright and short story writer
• 3 October – Denis Healey, British politician
• 5 October
• * Chantal Akerman, Belgian film director, artist and professor of film
• * Infante Carlos, Duke of Calabria
• * Henning Mankell, Swedish crime writer, children's author and dramatist
• 6 October – Árpád Göncz, former President of Hungary
• 7 October – Dominique Dropsy, French footballer
• 9 October – Geoffrey Howe, British politician
• 17 October
• * Danièle Delorme, French actress and film producer
• * Howard Kendall, English footballer and manager
• 23 October – Paride Tumburus, Italian footballer
• 24 October
• * Ján Chryzostom Korec, Slovak Jesuit priest and Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church
• * Maureen O'Hara, Irish-American actress and singer
• 30 October – Sinan Şamil Sam, Turkish professional boxer
• 31 October – Ants Antson, Estonian speed skater

  November

• 1 November – Günter Schabowski, German politician
• 4 November – René Girard, French historian, literary critic and philosopher
• 5 November
• * Nora Brockstedt, Norwegian singer
• * Czesław Kiszczak, Polish soldier and politician
• 7 November – Gunnar Hansen, Icelandic-born American actor and author
• 8 November – Andrei Eshpai, Mari composer
• 9 November
• * Ernst Fuchs, Austrian artist
• * Andy White, Scottish drummer
• 10 November
• * André Glucksmann, French philosopher, activist and writer
• * Klaus Roth, German-born British mathematician
• * Helmut Schmidt, Chancellor of West Germany
• 11 November – Phil Taylor, English rock drummer
• 12 November – Márton Fülöp, Hungarian professional footballer
• 21 November – Linda Haglund, Swedish Olympic sprinter
• 28 November
• * Gerry Byrne, English footballer
• * Barbro Hiort af Ornäs, Swedish actress