# 2001 in France

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Events from the year 2001 in France.

## Incumbents

* President: Jacques Chirac
* Prime Minister: Lionel Jospin

## Events

* March – The Renault Vel Satis is launched at the Geneva Motor Show.
* 8 March – Cantonales Elections held.
* 11 March – Cantonales Elections held.
* 11 March – Municipal Elections held.
* 18 March – Municipal Elections held.
* April – PSA Peugeot Citroën replaces two of its longest running cars – the Citroën Xantia and Peugeot 306 – with the Citroën C5 and Peugeot 307 respectively.
* September – Citroën launches the all-new C3 hatchback at the Frankfurt Motor Show as a replacement for the outdated Saxo.
* 15 September – Santé Diabète organization is created in Grenoble.
* 21 September – The AZote Fertilisant chemical factory in Toulouse, explodes, killing 29 and seriously wounding over 2500.
* November – The Peugeot 307 is voted European Car of the Year.

## Sport

* 15 April – Paris–Roubaix cycle race won by Servais Knaven of the Netherlands.
* 1 July – French Grand Prix won by Michael Schumacher of Germany.
* 7 July – Tour de France begins.
* 29 July – Tour de France ends, won by Lance Armstrong of the United States.

## Births

* 24 March – William Saliba, footballer
* 5 April – Thylane Blondeau, model and the daughter of soccer player Patrick Blondeau

## Deaths
### January to March

* 10 January – Jacques Marin, actor (born 1919).
* 21 January – Jean-Marie Goasmat, cyclist (born 1913).
* 30 January
** Jean-Pierre Aumont, actor (born 1911).
** Michel Marcel Navratil, last French survivor and male survivor of the Titanic disaster (born 1908)
* 8 February – Raymond Polin, philosopher (born 1910).
* 18 February – Balthus, artist (born 1908).
* 19 February – Charles Trenet, singer and songwriter (born 1913).
* 4 March – Jean René Bazaine, painter, stained glass window designer and writer (born 1904).

### April to June

* 10 April – Jean-Gabriel Albicocco, film director (born 1936).
* 19 April – André du Bouchet, poet (born 1924).
* 20 April – Maurice Lauré, creator of taxe sur la valeur ajoutée (TVA) (born 1917).
* 6 May – René Bondoux, fencer (born 1905)
* 14 May – Paul Bénichou, writer, critic and literary historian (born 1908).
* 15 May – Jean-Philippe Lauer, architect and Egyptologist (born 1902).
* 15 May – Sacha Vierny, cinematographer (born 1919).
* 17 May – Jacques-Louis Lions, mathematician (born 1928).
* 6 June – Marie Brémont, supercentenarian, the oldest recognized person in the world from November 2000 until her death (born 1886).
* 11 June – Pierre Eyt, cardinal (born 1934).
* 13 June – Louis de Maigret, Military officer (born 1914).
* 15 June – Henri Alekan, cinematographer (born 1909).
* 18 June – René Dumont, agronomist, sociologist and environmental politician (born 1904).
* 23 June – Corinne Calvet, actress (born 1925).

### July to September

* 1 July – Hélène de Beauvoir, painter (born 1910).
* 3 August – Jeanne Loriod, musician (born 1928).
* 4 August – Michel de Salzmann, psychiatrist (born 1923).
* 12 August – Pierre Klossowski, writer, translator and artist (born 1905).
* 15 August – Raymond Abescat, oldest man in France and oldest veteran in France at the time of his death (born 1891).
* 25 August – Philippe Léotard, actor and singer (born 1940).
* 4 September – Simone de la Chaume, golfer (born 1908).

### October to December

* 18 October – Micheline Ostermeyer, athlete and pianist (born 1922).
* 31 October – Régine Cavagnoud, alpine skier (born 1970).
* 11 November – Pierre Billaud, radio reporter and journalist, killed in Afghanistan (born 1970).
* 12 December – Jean Richard, actor (born 1921).
* 18 December – Gilbert Bécaud, singer, composer and actor (born 1927).
* 19 December – Marcel Mule, classical saxophonist (born 1901).

### Full date unknown

* Édouard Artigas, fencer (born 1915).
* Marcel Bleibtreu, Trotskyist activist and theorist (born 1918).
* Pierre Chevalier, caver and mountaineer (born 1905).
* André Pascal, songwriter and composer (born 1932).