2004 in France

← 2003 2002 2001 2004 in France → 2005 2006 2007
Decades:	1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s
See also:	Other events of 2004 Timeline of French history

Events from the year 2004 in France.

Incumbents

• President – Jacques Chirac
• Prime Minister – Jean-Pierre Raffarin
• Interior Minister – Nicolas Sarkozy then Dominique de Villepin
• Finance Minister – Francis Mer then Nicolas Sarkozy
• Foreign Minister – Dominique de Villepin then Michel Barnier

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.^[1]
• 20 February – The insecticide Regent (fipronil), 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.^[1]
• 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 (see: 2004 Ivorian-French violence).
• 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.

Sport

• 3 July – Tour de France begins.
• 4 July – French Grand Prix won by Michael Schumacher of Germany.
• 25 July – Tour de France ends, won by Lance Armstrong of the United States.

Deaths

January to March

• 3 January – Pierre Flamion, soccer player and manager (born 1924).
• 8 January – Franck Ténot, press agent, pataphysician and jazz critic (born 1925).
• 15 January
  • Robert-Ambroise-Marie Carré, priest and author (born 1908).
  • André Barrais, basketball player (born 1920).
• 22 January – Ticky Holgado, actor (born 1944).
• 13 February – François Tavenas, academic in Canada (born 1942).
• 18 February – Jean Rouch, filmmaker and anthropologist (born 1917).
• 21 February – Alex Métayer, comedian.
• 25 February – Jacques Georges, soccer administrator (born 1916).
• 4 March – Claude Nougaro, singer and songwriter (born 1929).
• 13 March – René Laloux, animator and film director (born 1929).
• 28 March – Robert Merle, novelist (born 1908).

April to June

• 25 April – Jacques Rouxel, animator (born 1931).
• 28 April – Patrick Berhault, mountain climber.
• April – Daniel Bernard, diplomat (born 1941).
• 1 May Jean-Jacques Laffont, economist (born 1947).
• 2 May – Paul Guimard, writer (born 1921).
• 28 May – Jean-Philippe Charbonnier, photographer (born 1921).
• 29 May – Gérard de Sède, author (born 1921).
• 31 May – Étienne Roda-Gil, songwriter and screenwriter (born 1941).
• 10 June – Antoine Argoud, twice attempted to assassinate Charles de Gaulle (born 1914).
• 11 June – Michel Roche, equestrian (born 1939).
• 18 June – André Gillois, writer and radio pioneer (born 1902).

July to September

• 9 July – Jean Lefebvre, actor (born 1919).
• 17 July – Lucien Leduc, soccer player and manager (born 1918).
• 18 July – Émile Peynaud, oenologist and researcher (born 1912).
• 24 July – Claude Ballif, composer (born 1924).
• 28 July – Bernard Saint-Hillier, General (born 1911).
• 3 August – Henri Cartier-Bresson, photographer (born 1908).
• 4 August – Cécile Guillame, first woman who engraved French postal stamps (born 1933).
• 9 August – Robert Lecourt, jurist, fourth President of the European Court of Justice (born 1908).
• 17 August – Gérard Souzay, baritone (born 1918).
• 20 August – Amelie Delagrange, murder victim (born 1982).
• 29 August – Jean-Louis Nicot, Air Force officer involved in the Algiers putsch (born 1911).
• 8 September – Raymond Marcellin, politician (born 1914).
• 9 September – Jean-Daniel Pollet, film director and screenwriter (born 1936).
• 24 September – Françoise Sagan, playwright, novelist and screenwriter (born 1935).
• 25 September – Alain Glavieux, professor in electrical engineering.
• 29 September – Richard Sainct, Rally Raid Motorcycle rider (born 1970).

October to December

• October – Jacques Noël, fencer (born 1920).
• 3 October – Jacques Benveniste, immunologist (born 1935).
• 8 October – Jacques Derrida, philosopher (born 1930).
• 22 October – Louis Bouyer, priest and writer (born 1913).
• 27 October
  • Pierre Béarn, writer (born 1902).
  • Claude Helffer, pianist (born 1922).
• 26 November – Philippe de Broca, film director (born 1933).
• 31 December – Gérard Debreu, economist and mathematician, won 1983 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics (born 1921).

References

Years in France (1555–present) 1555 1699 1704 1707 1708 1713 1714 1716 1769 1775 1784 1785 1786 1787 1788 1789 1790 1791 1792 1793 1794 1795 1796 1797 1798 1799 1800 1801 1802 1803 1804 1805 1806 1807 1808 1809 1810 1811 1812 1813 1814 1815 1816 1817 1818 1819 1820 1821 1822 1823 1824 1825 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015