2012 in France

Events from the year 2012 in France:

Incumbents

 * President: Nicolas Sarkozy (until 16 May), François Hollande (starting 16 May)
 * Prime Minister: François Fillon (until 16 May), Jean-Marc Ayrault (starting 16 May)

January

 * 11 January – French journalist Gilles Jacquier is killed in Homs, Syria after coming under fire whilst reporting the Syrian civil war for France 2. He is the first Western casualty of the conflict.
 * 13 January – Standard & Poor's downgrades France's credit rating from AAA to AA+.
 * 23 January – The Senate passes a bill criminalising the denial of the Armenian genocide.

February

 * 22 February – The term 'mademoiselle' is removed from official documents following a campaign by feminist organisations.
 * 28 February – The Constitutional Council rules that the bill criminalising denial of the Armenian genocide infringes on freedom of speech, and is therefore unconstitutional. In response, Nicolas Sarkozy orders a redraft of the bill.

March

 * March 22 – Mohammed Merah, responsible for the Toulouse and Montauban shootings, is killed during his arrest.

April

 * April 22 – François Hollande and incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy are selected as second round competitors in the 2012 French presidential election.

May

 * May 6 – François Hollande is elected as the new president of France.
 * May 15 – François Hollande is sworn in as president of France; he will serve only one term.
 * May 27 – June 11 – 2012 French Open is held.

June

 * June 30 – July 22 – 2012 Tour de France is held.

July

 * July 13 – A private jet crash in southern France, causing the death of 3 people.
 * July 16 – Commission on renewal and ethics in public life is formed by François Hollande on.

Deaths

 * 1 January – Marcelle Narbonne, 113, supercentenarian, oldest European living person
 * 5 January – François-Marie Algoud, 91, royalist and author
 * 7 January – Henri Puppo, 98, cyclist
 * 8 January – Françoise Christophe, 88, actress
 * 9 January – Christian-Joseph Guyonvarc'h, 85, philologist
 * 11 January – Gilles Jacquier, 43, journalist
 * 14 January
 * Mila Parély, 94, actress
 * Rosy Varte, 88, actress
 * 16 January – Pierre Goubert, 96, historian
 * 22 January – André Green, 84, psychoanalyst
 * 14 February – Henri-Germain Delauze, 82, engineer and diver, founder of COMEX
 * 15 February – Jacques Duby, 89, actor
 * 22 February – Rémi Ochlik, 28, photographer
 * 25 February – Maurice André, 78, trumpeter (born 1933)
 * 28 March – Eduard Steinberg, 75, painter (born 1937)
 * 3 June – Jean-Louis Richard, 85, French film director
 * 29 July – Chris Marker, 91, artist (born 1921)