François Hollande
François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande (; born 12 August 1954) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2012 to 2017. He previously was First Secretary of the Socialist Party (PS) from 1997 to 2008, Mayor of Tulle from ...
* 6 January – Workers at a Goodyear tyre factory in Amiens hold two executives hostage after it was announced that Goodyear was to close the plant with a loss of more than 1,000 jobs. The executives are released the following afternoon.
* 10 January –
** '' Closer'' magazine runs a story alleging that François Hollande is having an affair with actress Julie Gayet. In a statement, Hollande says he "deeply deplores the attacks on the principle of respect for privacy, to which he, like every citizen, has a right". The story is later removed from the magazine's website.
** François Hollande's partner, Valérie Trierweiler, is admitted to hospital for "rest and a few tests" following the affair allegations. She remains hospitalised until 18 January.
* 16 January – A protester calling for a political upheaval unloads a large mound of manure outside the Palais Bourbon from a lorry before being detained by police.
* 19 January – High levels of rainfall cause flooding in Var, killing two people and leaving 4,000 homes without power.
* 25 January – François Hollande confirms he has separated from his partner Valérie Trierweiler.
February
* 2 February – Over 500,000 people in Paris protest against same-sex marriages.
* 7 February – A severe windstorm hits the north-west of France, causing floods in Brittany and power losses to homes and businesses in Brittany,
Pays de la Loire
Pays de la Loire (; ; br, Broioù al Liger) is one of the 18 regions of France, in the west of the mainland. It was created in the 1950s to serve as a zone of influence for its capital, Nantes, one of a handful of "balancing metropolises" ().
...
, Normandy and Île-de-France.
* 8 February – A train derails in the French Alps after being struck by a falling boulder, killing two and injuring nine.
* 10 February – Taxi drivers stage a one-day strike against the proliferation of unlicensed and unregulated cabs in the country. Their efforts in blocking motorways paralyses
rush hour
A rush hour (American English, British English) or peak hour (Australian English) is a part of the day during which traffic congestion on roads and crowding on public transport is at its highest. Normally, this happens twice every weekday: on ...
Marseilles
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
.
* 12 February – French President François Hollande is hosted by US President Barack Obama at a White House state dinner, during a visit by Hollande to the US aimed at renewing the partnership between the two countries.
* 14 February – France announces it will increase the number of its soldiers deployed in the Central African Republic as sectarian violence worsens.
* 14 February – Figures released by INSEE show the economy grew by 0.0% and 0.3% in the third and fourth quarters of 2013 respectively.
* 18 February – French police arrest a man in relation to a killing of a British family in the French Alps.
* 23 February – Six police officers are injured when protests against the construction of a new airport in
Nantes
Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...
turns violent.
March
* 6 March – '' Le Monde'' runs a story claiming that the phone of former President
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012.
Born in Paris, he is of Hungarian, Greek Jewish, and French origin. Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Se ...
had been tapped by judges investigating alleged financial links between him and the former Libyan dictator
Muammar Gaddafi
Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, . Due to the lack of standardization of transcribing written and regionally pronounced Arabic, Gaddafi's name has been romanized in various ways. A 1986 column by ''The Straight Dope'' lists 32 spellin ...
. It is also alleged that the taps contain evidence of Sarkozy attempting to interfere with judicial inquiries.
* 11 March – Fourteen Caribbean nations file a lawsuit against the United Kingdom, France, and the Netherlands for damages caused during the
Atlantic slave trade
The Atlantic slave trade, transatlantic slave trade, or Euro-American slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and i ...
.
* 14 March – Several days of calm weather conditions cause a large buildup of airborne pollutants across much of France, leading to health alert warnings being declared in almost 75% of the country. In a bid to cut further air pollution, transport authorities in Paris,
Caen
Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,Grenoble,
Reims
Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne.
Founded by ...
and
Rouen
Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of ...
respond by offering free public transport over the weekend.
* 17 March – With air pollution exceeding safe levels for five consecutive days, authorities in Paris begin restricting the private use of cars and motorcycles to alternate days only. The measure polarises opinion and thousands of fines are handed out to drivers breaking the restriction before it is lifted the following day.
* 23 March – The first round of the 2014 municipal elections takes place, with support for the governing Socialist Party declining and support for the right-wing National Front increasing. A BVA poll reports UMP leading with 48% of the vote, ahead of the Socialists on 43% and National Front on 7%.
* 26 March – Figures released by the Ministry of Labour show a 0.9% rise in unemployment in February. The total jobless count in mainland France now stands at 3.347 million.
* 30 March – The second round of the municipal elections takes place:
** Substantial gains are made by the parties of the right, with UMP taking control in at least 140 towns and National Front winning power in 11 towns, while the Socialists suffer heavy losses, most prominently at
Limoges
Limoges (, , ; oc, Lemòtges, locally ) is a city and Communes of France, commune, and the prefecture of the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in west-central France. It was the administrative capital of the former Limousin region ...
which they had held since
1912
Events January
* January 1 – The Republic of China (1912–49), Republic of China is established.
* January 5 – The Prague Conference (6th All-Russian Conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party) opens.
* January 6 ...
. The election is marked by a low turnout, with 38% of voters abstaining from voting.
** Anne Hidalgo of the Socialist Party is elected Mayor of Paris, becoming the first woman to hold the position.
** One week after winning more than 75% of the vote in the first round, the mayor-elect of the southwestern town of Vibrac, Philipe Sauty, commits suicide before taking office.
* 31 March – Jean-Marc Ayrault resigns as Prime Minister following the disappointing municipal election results for the Socialists. The
Interior Minister
An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...
* 7 April – A magnitude 5 earthquake is felt in parts of southeastern France, close to the Italian border. No injuries or damage is reported.
* 12 April – An estimated 25,000 people on the
far-left
Far-left politics, also known as the radical left or the extreme left, are politics further to the left on the left–right political spectrum than the standard political left. The term does not have a single definition. Some scholars consider ...
turn out to protest in Paris against the austerity measures imposed by the Hollande government. A recent poll places Hollande's popularity at its lowest to date, with just 18% approving of his role as president.
* 14 April – Following the rape of a 16-year-old girl at a private Catholic school in La Rochelle the previous September, police begin a mass DNA test of the school's 527 male pupils and staff to attempt to identify the perpetrator.
* 24 April – Shares in engineering company
Alstom
Alstom SA is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling, and locomotives, with products including the AGV, TGV, Eurostar, Avelia ...
climb 11% following a report of a $13bn takeover bid by American company General Electric. The following week Alstom's board of directors approve of a $12.4bn offer, despite the government's successful attempt at persuading
Siemens
Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad.
The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...
to offer a counter-bid.
* 25 April – The Corsican Assembly passes a law restricting the purchase of homes to only those who have maintained residence on the island for a minimum of five years.
May
* 5 May – The
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
corn
Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...
developed by American agribusiness firm Monsanto.
* 6 May – The $12.4bn takeover bid of Alstom by General Electric is rejected by François Hollande, citing "national interest" grounds.
* 7 May –
Paris St. Germain
Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional Association football, football List of football clubs in France, club based in Paris, France. They compete ...
secure the
Ligue 1
Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...
title for the second consecutive season.
* 13 May – The
International Organisation of Vine and Wine
The International Organisation of Vine and Wine (french: Organisation Internationale de la vigne et du vin; OIV) is an intergovernmental organization which deals with technical and scientific aspects of viticulture and winemaking.United States has overtaken France as the world's largest consumer of wine. France however remains the leader on consumption per capita.
* 17 May – Leaders of West African nations gather in Paris for discussions on the threat posed by the Nigerian militant group
Boko Haram
Boko Haram, officially known as ''Jamā'at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da'wah wa'l-Jihād'' ( ar, جماعة أهل السنة للدعوة والجهاد, lit=Group of the People of Sunnah for Dawah and Jihad), is an Islamic terrorist organization ...
. The summit follows the Chibok schoolgirl kidnapping orchestrated by Boko Haram in northern Nigeria the previous month.
* 21 May – A new specification of train designed by
SNCF
The Société nationale des chemins de fer français (; abbreviated as SNCF ; French for "National society of French railroads") is France's national state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the country's national rail traffi ...
is revealed to be too wide for some 1,300 stations across France. Modifying the affected station platforms is estimated to cost €40 million.
* 24–25 May – The European Parliament elections take place, with National Front winning 25% of the votes, taking 24 of France's 74 seats, the UMP polling second with 20%, landing 19 seats, and the Socialists third on 14%, securing 13 seats. Front National party president
Marine Le Pen
Marion Anne Perrine "Marine" Le Pen (; born 5 August 1968) is a French lawyer and politician who ran for the French presidency in 2012, 2017, and 2022. A member of the National Rally (RN; previously the National Front, FN), she served as its pre ...
declares the result a "massive rejection of the European Union", with Prime Minister Manuel Valls calling it "more than another warning; it's a shock, an earthquake".
June
* 2 June – Plans are announced to reduce the number of regions in Metropolitan France from 22 to 14 in an effort to cut regional bureaucracy and spending.
* 6 June – Ceremonies commemorating the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings are held in Normandy.
Air Algérie Flight 5017
Air Algérie Flight 5017 was a scheduled international passenger flight from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, to Algiers, Algeria, which crashed near Gossi, Mali, on 24 July 2014. The McDonnell Douglas MD-83 twinjet with 110 passengers and 6 crew on bo ...
Algiers
Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...
, Algeria, with a total of 118 fatalities. Flags are flown at half-mast in France for three days of official mourning.
November
*25 November – Rémy Cordonnier, librarian at Saint-Omer, announces his discovery of a previously unknown copy of a First Folio of Shakespeare (
1623
Events
January–March
* January 21 –
**Viscount Falkland, England's Lord Deputy of Ireland, issues a proclamation ordering all Roman Catholic priests to leave Ireland. The order frustrates negotiations between Protestant En ...
).
December
*20 December –
2014 Tours police station stabbing
On 20 December 2014, a man in Joué-lès-Tours near the city of Tours in central France entered a police station and attacked officers with a knife, shouting "Allahu Akbar" and injuring three before he was shot and killed. The attack was categoris ...
: Bertrand Nzohabonayo, a Burundi-born French citizen attacks and injures three police officers at Joué-lès-Tours before being shot and killed.
General
*
Christophe Guilluy
Christophe Guilluy (, born October 14, 1964 in Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis) is a French geographer and author.
He is known for his theory on "peripheral France" ('), which refers to mainly rural areas of France where many members of the politic ...
publishes ''La France périphérique: Comment on a sacrifié les classes populaires''.
*The penetration rate of the mobile phone in French Republic is around 107–109%.
Deaths
* 6 January –
Marina Ginestà
Marina Ginestà i Coloma (29 January 1919 – 6 January 2014) was a French-born Spanish communist, a member of the Unified Socialist Youth, and an iconic figure of the Spanish Civil War. She became famous due to the photo taken by Juan Guzmá ...
François Cavanna
François Cavanna (22 February 1923 – 29 January 2014) was a French author and satirical newspaper editor.
He contributed to the creation and success of ''Hara-Kiri'' and ''Charlie Hebdo''. He wrote in a variety of genres including reportage, ...
Jacques Bergerac
Jacques Bergerac (26 May 1927 – 15 June 2014) was a French actor and businessman.
Life and career
Jacques Bergerac was born in 1927 in Biarritz, France, the son of Alice (Romatet) and Charles Bergerac.
Bergerac was a law student when he met a ...
, 87, actor and businessman
* 13 July –
Lorin Maazel
Lorin Varencove Maazel (, March 6, 1930 – July 13, 2014) was an American conductor, violinist and composer. He began conducting at the age of eight and by 1953 had decided to pursue a career in music. He had established a reputation in th ...
, 84, French-American conductor and violinist
* 3 August – Yvette Giraud, 97, singer and actress
* 26 October – Françoise Bertin, 89, actress
2014 in French television
This is a list of French television related events from 2014.
Events
*26 January - Twin Twin are selected to represent France at the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest with their song " Moustache". They are selected to be the fifty-seventh French Euro ...