This is a list of major political scandals in France.
Until 1958
edit- 1789: Réveillon riots - popular revolt from April 26- 28, in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, Paris. Considered a precursor to the Storming of the Bastille and the French Revolution.
- 1797: XYZ Affair - a political and diplomatic episode involving confrontation with the United States that led to the Quasi-War.
- 1816: shipwreck of and search for the French frigate Méduse off the west coast of Africa
- 1847: Teste-Cubières corruption scandal, revealed in May 1847
- 1847: Charles de Choiseul-Praslin's suicide after having murdered his wife, daughter of Horace Sébastiani, minister of the July Monarchy
- 1880s: Georges Ernest Boulanger affair
- 1887: Schnaebele incident
- 1887: Wilson scandal, which led to the resignation of President Jules Grévy[1]
- 1890s: Panama scandals
- 1894: Dreyfus affair, treason conviction of Alfred Dreyfus, exposed by writer Émile Zola on 13 January 1898
- 1904: the Affair of the Cards, sometimes called the Affair of the Casseroles.
- 1928: Marthe Hanau affair
- 1930: Albert Oustric affair
- 1934: Stavisky Affair, embezzlement and political corruption
- 1949: the Generals Affair, a political-military scandal during the First Indochina War
- 1950: the Henri Martin Affair, a political-military scandal during the First Indochina War
- 1958: the ballets roses, a scandal most notably involving then President of the Senate, André Le Troquer, in which a group of girls aged 15 to 17 performed "ballets" that ended in orgies
Under the Fifth Republic
edit- 1965: the Ben Barka affair, disappearance of the Moroccan opposition leader Mehdi Ben Barka.
- 1968: The Markovic affair
- 1974:
- Eurodif affair
- Cardinal Jean Daniélou's death in the house of a prostitute
- Le Monde reveals the existence of the SAFARI government database, prompting the creation of the CNIL agency in charge of respect of civil rights and data privacy.
- 1979:
- Robert Boulin affair; a minister of the third Raymond Barre government, Boulin was found dead in mysterious circumstances on 30 October 1979
- Diamonds Affair involving Bokassa
- 1981: the Canard enchaîné uncovered the collaborationist role of former official Maurice Papon under Vichy France; the latter would eventually be convicted of crimes against humanity
- 1985: sinking of the Rainbow Warrior by the French DGSE intelligence agency
- 1986: Chernobyl disaster, Jacques Chirac's government wrongly alleged that the "radioactive cloud" had stopped at the French borders
- 1987–1988: Iskandar Safa and the Hostage Scandal involving Prime Minister Jacques Chirac and Interior Minister Charles Pasqua
- 1980s: contaminated blood scandal[2]
- The Canard enchaîné satirical newspaper fought to bring to light evidence of alleged corruption during President Jacques Chirac's tenure as Mayor of Paris.[3]
- 1990s: Angolagate (arms-for-oil scandal)
- 1994: Yann Piat affair; a former National Front MP, assassinated on 25 February 1994)
- 1994: Dauphiné News affair; Minister Alain Carignon indicted, later sentenced to 29 months in prison
- 1998: affair Elf-Dumas
- 1999: "Affair of the beach huts", leading to the arrest of prefect Bernard Bonnet
- 2005: the revelations of the Canard enchaîné on Finance Minister Hervé Gaymard's (UMP) lavish state-funded apartment led to his resignation in 2005
- 2006: Clearstream affair allegedly involving Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin (UMP) accused of attempting to discredit his political rivals, including UMP Leader Nicolas Sarkozy, by spreading false allegations concerning the Taiwan frigates scandal.[4]
- Since 2010
See also
edit- Balladur jurisprudence, concerning ministers indicted by the justice
- Le Canard Enchaîné, an investigative satirical newspaper which uncovered many scandals
- Outreau affair, a judicial scandal
- Corruption in France
References
edit- ↑ Peter N. Stearns, William Leonard Langer (2001). The Encyclopedia of World History. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 494. ISBN 0-395-65237-5.
- ↑ "Former French ministers go on trial in AIDS blood scandal - February 7, 1999". CNN. 1999-02-07. Retrieved 2013-08-19.
- ↑ See: Chirac's role in Parisian corruption scandals.
- ↑ "Timeline: France's Clearstream scandal". BBC News. Retrieved 6 February 2013.
External links
edit- The Bettencourt/L'Oréal scandal Radio France Internationale in English
- French politics no stranger to scandals Radio France Internationale in English
- L'Oréal, scandals and the far right Radio France Internationale in English
- Liste d'affaires politico-financières françaises List Of French Financial Political Scandals in French