12 January – 2019 Paris explosion: An explosion occurs at a bakery on Rue de Trevise in Paris' 9th arrondissement, killing four people and injuring forty-seven others.[1]
14 January – The Brest University Hospital Center becomes the first hospital in the world to acquire a PET scan.
5 February – February 2019 Paris fire: A suspected arson at an apartment block on Rue Erlanger in Paris' 16th arrondissement kills ten people, making it the deadliest fire in Paris since 2005.[2][3]
7 February – Following the growing diplomatic tensions between the French government and the Italian government, the French ambassador to Italy, Christian Masset is recalled to France.
24 February – Nearly 2000 hectares ravaged by 49 fire departures in less than 24 hours in Corsica.
25 February – The Secretary of State for the Digital Sector, Mounir Mahjoubi, reveals that an attack on the central Internet directory ICANN is underway.
March
2 March – Riots in Grenoble, due to the death of two teenagers riding a scooter who collided with a bus while being pursued by a police patrol.
12 March – Cargo ship Grande America sinks after catching fire on 10 March in the Bay of Biscay, approximately 200 kilometres (120mi) west of France, causing a 2,200-tonne oil spill.[4]
16 March – Yellow vests movement: Protests against President Emmanuel Macron enter a fourth month in Paris. Tear gas is fired at protesters throwing stones at riot police in front of the Arc de Triomphe, news stands are torched at the Champs-Élysées, and a branch of Banque Tarneaud is burned. More than 80 arrests are made. Businesses around the Champs-Élysées are looted.[5]
6 June – Commemorations mark the 75th anniversary of the Normandy landings.
7 June –
A SNSM boat capsizes in front of Les Sables d'Olonne during a rescue mission of a fisherman caught in the Storm Miguel. 3 rescuers and the fisherman drown.[8]
22 June – Steve Maia Caniço's case begins after the latter's disappearance following a police charge against a group of party-goers.
24 June – France is affected by the early European heat wave, absolute temperature records are beaten. Bouches-du-Rhône, Gard, Hérault and Vaucluse have been put under red alert due to potentially very dangerous temperatures. On 25 June Paris reaches its hottest July day on record, with a temperature of 42.6°C.
11 July – After a decade, the end of Vincent Lambert case following the death of the latter, who had been brain dead for 10 years.
16 July – Resignation of the Minister of Ecological and Solidarity Transition François de Rugy following Mediapart's revelations of his use of public funds. Élisabeth Borne succeeds him.
6 August – Jean-Mathieu Michel, Mayor of Signes, is overturned by a van that illegally deposited rubble on the side of the road. The mayor will die soon after.
28 August –
A chemical accident injures 14 people, two of them seriously, in a company located in Avon and Samois-sur-Seine.
13 September – The mayor of Levallois-PerretPatrick Balkany is sentenced to 4 years in prison with immediate incarceration and 10 years of ineligibility for tax evasion, after a highly publicized three-month trial.
26 September – RouenLubrizol factory fire: Fire in a chemical factory of the company Lubrizol classified Seveso II high threshold ("high risk"). A thick plume of black smoke forms, reaching more than 20km. As part of the management of the accident, various measures are taken for the protection of the population (confinement, school closures, suspension of certain agricultural activities, etc.).
29 September – popular tribute to Jacques Chirac, who died on 26 September; then national mourning and funeral on 30 September.
Camus, Jean-Yves (2021). "Guillaume Faye, from New Right intellectual to prophet of the racial civil war". Contemporary Far-Right Thinkers and the Future of Liberal Democracy. Routledge. p.68. ISBN978-1000431902.