1999 in France

Incumbents

• President: Jacques Chirac
• Prime Minister: Lionel Jospin

  Events

• 3 March – ratification of the Amsterdam Treaty by the French National Assembly.
• 17 March – ratification of the Amsterdam Treaty by the Senate.
• 24 March – Fire in the Mont Blanc Tunnel kills 39 people, closing the tunnel for nearly three years.
• 13 June – European Parliament election in France.
• 11 August – a total solar eclipse occurs in the north of France.
• September – The Peugeot 607 is launched to replace the unsuccessful decade-old 605.
• 13 October – Pacte civil de solidarité adopted by French Parliament.
• 12 December – a ship, Erika, breaks up near Penmarc'h spilling 37 000 tons of fuel, causing an oil slick on the Breton, Vendean and Charentaise coasts. Loire-Atlantique is particularly affected.
• 26 and 28 December – storms Lothar and Martin cause heavy damage with winds reaching 180 km/h. The total damage includes more than 90 dead, 6 billion euros paid by the insurers and 10,000 km² of forest devastated.

  Arts and literature

• 2 September – Publication of Jean-Marie Guéhenno's "L'avenir de la liberté – La démocratie dans la mondialisation", which examines the problems arising from confrontation between the democracy and globalisation

  Sport

• 27 June – French Grand Prix won by Rubens Barrichello of Brazil.
• 3 July – Tour de France begins.
• 25 July – Tour de France ends, won by Lance Armstrong of the United States.

  Births

• 14 April - Matteo Guendouzi, soccer player

  Full date unknown

• Mélusine Mayance, actress

  Deaths

January

• 6 January — Michel Petrucciani, Jazz pianist.
• 19 January — Jacques Lecoq, actor, mime and acting instructor.
• 24 January – Roger Rondeaux, cyclo-cross racer.
• 25 January – Henri Rochereau, politician and European Commissioner.
• 26 January – Jeanne-Marie Darré, pianist.

  February

• 3 February – Luc Borrelli, soccer player.
• 12 February – André Devigny, soldier and French Resistance member.
• 18 February – Andreas Feininger, photographer.

  March

• 12 March – André Nocquet, aikido teacher.
• 17 March – Jean Pierre-Bloch, French Resistance member.
• 21 March — Jean Guitton, Catholic philosopher and theologian.

  May

• 25 May – René Gallice, soccer player.

  June

• 9 June – Maurice Journeau, composer.
• 19 June — Henri, comte de Paris, Orléanist claimant to the French throne.
• 28 June – Louis Ducatel, politician and businessman.
• 30 June — Edouard Boubat, photographer.

  July to October

• 16 July — André Martinet, linguist.
• 30 July – Hermann Panzo, athlete.
• 22 August – Yann Goulet, sculptor, Breton nationalist and war-time collaborationist.
• 30 August – Raymond Poïvet, cartoonist.
• 14 September – Jehan Buhan, fencer.
• 15 September – Michel Pinseau, architect.
• 4 October — Bernard Buffet, painter.
• 27 October – Charlotte Perriand, architect and designer.

  November

• 3 November — Alan Heusaff, Breton nationalist and linguist.
• 9 November – Claude Ballot-Léna, motor racing driver.
• 11 November – Alphonse Antoine, cyclist.
• 21 November – Serge Lang, journalist, alpine skier, and founder of the alpine skiing World Cup.
• 25 November – Pierre Bézier, engineer.
• 27 November – Alain Peyrefitte, scholar and politician.

  December

• 6 December — Paul Bacon, politician.
• 18 December — Robert Bresson, film director.
• 23 December – Marcel Landowski, composer, biographer and arts administrator.
• 24 December — Maurice Couve de Murville, politician and Prime Minister.
• 28 December – Pierre Clémenti, actor.
• 28 December – Louis Féraud, fashion designer and artist.

  Full date unknown

• Germaine Dieterlen, anthropologist.
• Yann Goulet, sculptor, Breton nationalist and war-time collaborationist with Nazi Germany.
• René Le Hir, Breton nationalist.
• Laure Leprieur, radio personality.