• President: François Mitterrand
• Prime Minister: Jacques Chirac (until 10 May), Michel Rocard (starting 10 May)

• 29 March – African National Congress representative Dulcie September assassinated in Paris.
• 22 April–5 May – The Ouvéa cave hostage taking takes place in Ouvéa, Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia.
• 24 April – Presidential Election held.
• 8 May – Presidential Election held, won by François Mitterrand.
• 5 June – Legislative Election held.
• 12 June – Legislative Election held.
• 26 June – Air France Flight 296 Airbus A320 crashes at an airshow at Mulhouse killing three passengers.
• 26 June – Matignon Accords referendum held.
• 27 June – Gare de Lyon train accident results in 56 deaths.
• 21 July – Renault launches the R19 hatchback range, which replaces the Renault 11 hatchback. A saloon model to replace the Renault 9 is expected soon.^[1]
• August – Construction begins on the Euro Disney resort and theme park east of Paris; it is expected to be open within three years.^[2]
• 26 August – Mehran Karimi Nasseri, "The terminal man", is stuck in Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, where he will continue to reside until 1 August 2006.
• 25 September – Cantonales Elections held.
• 2 October – Cantonales Elections held.
• 28 October – Abortion: 48 hours after announcing it was abandoning RU-486, French manufacturer Roussel Uclaf states that it would resume distribution of the drug, bowing to pressure from the Government of France.

January to March edit

• 5 January – Pauline, singer and songwriter.
• 16 January – Benoît Richaud, ice dancer.
• 25 January – Tatiana Golovin, tennis player.
• 7 February – Albin Hodža, footballer
• 12 February – Guillaume Borne, soccer player.
• 24 February
  • Mathieu Baudry, footballer
  • Rodrigue Beaubois, basketball player
• 27 February – Sandy Paillot, soccer player.
• 5 March – Damien Plessis, soccer player.
• 10 March – Kévin Olimpa, soccer player.
• 27 March – Quentin Othon, soccer player.
• 28 March – Mélodie Chataigner, pair skater.
• 31 March – Mickael Charvet, soccer player.

April to June edit

• 21 April – Ibrahima Traoré, soccer player.
• 4 May – Simon Pontdemé, soccer player.
• 18 May – Paul Baysse, soccer player.
• 12 June – Matthias Lepiller, soccer player.
• 29 June – Adrian Mannarino, tennis player

July to September edit

• 4 July – Angélique Boyer, actress.
• 11 July – Étienne Capoue, soccer player.
• 14 July – Jérémy Stravius, swimmer
• 8 August – Flavia Bujor, novelist.
• 16 August – Christophe Pourcel, motocross rider.
• 18 August – Wilfried Domoraud, soccer player.
• 19 August – Kévin Monnet-Paquet, soccer player.
• 25 August – Malaury Martin, soccer player.
• 31 August – Rachel Legrain-Trapani, Miss France in 2007.
• 6 September – Jean-Yves Mvoto, soccer player.
• 16 September – Kim Lucine, figure skater.

October to December edit

• 12 December – Kévin Bru, soccer player.
• 14 December – Nicolas Batum, basketball player.
• 15 December – Floyd Ayité, soccer player.

January to March edit

• 9 January – Thierry Maulnier, journalist, essayist, dramatist and literary critic (born 1909).
• 20 January – Philippe de Rothschild, motor racing driver, scriptwriter, film producer, poet and wine grower (born 1902).
• 2 February
  • Alain Savary, politician and Minister (born 1918).
  • René Massigli, diplomat (born 1888).
• 16 February – Charles Delaunay, author, jazz expert, co-founder and long-term leader of the Hot club de France (born 1911).
• 19 February – René Char, poet (born 1907).
• 19 February – André Frédéric Cournand, physician and physiologist, shared Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1956 (born 1895).
• 6 March – Jeanne Aubert, singer and actress (born 1906).^[3]
• 19 March – Francis Lefebvre, physician (born 1916).
• 21 March – Germain Jousse, member of the French Resistance (born 1895).
• 30 March – Edgar Faure, politician, essayist, historian, and memoirist (born 1908).
• 31 March – Georges Lévis, comic artist (born 1924).

April to June edit

• 14 April – Daniel Guérin, anarchist and author (born 1904).
• 18 April – Pierre Desproges, humorist (born 1939).
• 24 May – Ernest Labrousse, historian (born 1895).
• 24 June – Pierre Jaïs, bridge player (born 1913).

July to September edit

• 15 July – Armand Mouyal, epee fencer (born 1925).
• 31 July – André Navarra, cellist and cello teacher (born 1911).
• 1 August – Louis-Jean Guyot, Cardinal (born 1907).
• 11 August
  • Pauline Lafont, actress (born 1963).
  • Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, opera director (born 1932).
• 20 August – Jean-Paul Aron, writer and journalist (born 1925).
• 25 August – Françoise Dolto, physician and psychoanalyst (born 1908).

October to December edit

• 14 October – René Vietto, cyclist (born 1914).
• 23 October – André Neher, Jewish scholar and philosopher (born 1914).
• 10 November – Jean Leray, mathematician (born 1906)
• 11 November – Émile Muller, politician (born 1915).
• 4 December – Fernand Mourlot, printer and publisher (born 1895).
• 13 December – André Jaunet, flautist (born 1911).
• 29 December – Émile Aillaud, architect (born 1902).

Full date unknown edit

• Serge Mouille, industrial designer and goldsmith (born 1922).
• Jules Semler-Collery, composer, conductor and teacher (born 1902).

  Media related to 1988 in France at Wikimedia Commons