2012 in France
# 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)

## Events

### January

* 11 January – French journalist Gilles Jacquier is killed in Homs, Syria after coming under fire whilst reporting the Syrian uprising 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.

### April

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

### July

* Commission on renewal and ethics in public life is formed by François Hollande on 16 July 2012.

## Deaths

* 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)
* 29 July – Chris Marker, 91, artist (born 1921)
