2008 in France

Events from the year 2008 in France.

Incumbents

1 January - Smoking banned in all public places (including bars and restaurants) in France.
2 February - Wedding of Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni.^[1]
9 March and 16 March - Cantonal elections held.^[2]
12 March - Lazare Ponticelli, the country's last surviving First World War veteran, dies at the age of 110 - eight months before the 90th anniversary of the Armistace.[1]
April - The Citroën C5 sedan is launched, whilst the station wagon was launched in May.
1 July - France assumes the Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
2 July - Íngrid Betancourt and 14 other hostages are rescued from FARC by Colombian security forces.
13 July - First meeting of Mediterranean Union, in Paris
10 September - Activation of Large Hadron Collider, localized between France and Switzerland
4 October - 50th Anniversary of the French Constitution of 1958 (French Fifth Republic).
October : Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier - the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

3 January - Henri Chopin, avant-garde poet and musician (b.1922).
5 January - Raymond Forni, Socialist politician (b.1941).
5 January - Louis Hon, soccer player (b.1924).
7 January - Maryvonne Dupureur, Olympic athlete (b.1937).
7 January - Marcel Mouly, artist (b.1918).
7 January - Jean-Claude Vrinat, restaurateur (b.1936).
12 January - Louis Alexandre Raimon, hair stylist (b.1922).
16 January - Raymond Cambefort, one of the last three fully verified World War I veterans living in France (b.1900).
16 January - Pierre Lambert, Trotskyist leader (b.1920).
17 January - Carlos, singer, entertainer and actor (b.1943).
17 January - Madeleine Milhaud, actress (b.1902).
20 January - Louis de Cazenave, at the time of his death, the oldest French poilu still alive (b.1897).
29 January - Philippe Khorsand, actor (b.1948).

2 February - Roger Testu, cartoonist (b.1913).
6 February - Gwenc'hlan Le Scouëzec, writer and Grand Druid of Brittany (b.1929).
12 February - Jean Prouff, soccer player and manager (b.1919).
13 February - Henri Salvador, singer (b.1917).
13 February - Roger Voisin, trumpeter (b.1918).
18 February - Alain Robbe-Grillet, writer and filmmaker (b.1922).
19 February - Jean-Michel Bertrand, politician (b.1943).
28 February - Gérard Calvet, Roman Catholic abbot (b.1927).

12 March - Lazare Ponticelli, last surviving official French veteran of the First World War (b.1897).
17 March - Roland Arnall, businessman and diplomat in the United States (b.1939).
19 March - Chantal Sébire, teacher and euthanasia campaigner (b.1955).
25 March - Thierry Gilardi, football and rugby commentator (b.1958).
26 March - Christian Bergelin, politician (b.1945).
27 March - Jean-Marie Balestre, sports executive (b.1921).
30 March - Marie-Françoise Audollent, actress (b.1943).