This is a list of major

political scandal In politics, a political scandal is an action or event regarded as morally or legally wrong and causing general public outrage. Politicians, government officials, Political party, party officials and Lobbying, lobbyists can be accused of various ...

s in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Until 1958

*1789: '' Réveillon riots'' - popular revolt from April 26- 28, in the

Faubourg Saint-Antoine The Faubourg Saint-Antoine () was one of the traditional suburbs of Paris, France. It grew up to the east of the Bastille around the abbey of Saint-Antoine-des-Champs, and ran along the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Antoine. Location The Faubourg Sain ...

, Paris. Considered a precursor to the

Storming of the Bastille The Storming of the Bastille ( ), which occurred in Paris, France, on 14 July 1789, was an act of political violence by revolutionary insurgents who attempted to storm and seize control of the medieval armoury, fortress, and political prison k ...

and the French Revolution. *1797:

XYZ Affair The XYZ Affair was a political and diplomatic episode in 1797 and 1798, early in the presidency of John Adams, involving a confrontation between the History of the United States (1789–1849), United States and French First Republic, Republican ...

- a political and diplomatic episode involving confrontation with the United States that led to the

Quasi-War The Quasi-War was an undeclared war from 1798 to 1800 between the United States and the French First Republic. It was fought almost entirely at sea, primarily in the Caribbean and off the East Coast of the United States, with minor actions in ...

. *1816:

shipwreck A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. It results from the event of ''shipwrecking'', which may be intentional or unintentional. There were approximately thre ...

of and search for the off the west coast of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

*1847: Teste-

Cubières Cubières (; ) is a commune in the Lozère department in southern France. See also *Communes of the Lozère department The following is a list of the 152 communes of the Lozère department of France France, officially the French Repu ...

corruption scandal, revealed in May 1847 *1847: Charles de Choiseul-Praslin's suicide after having murdered his wife, daughter of

Horace Sébastiani Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 BC – 27 November 8 BC),Suetonius, Life of Horace commonly known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The ...

, minister of the

July Monarchy The July Monarchy (), officially the ''Kingdom of France'' (), was a liberalism, liberal constitutional monarchy in France under , starting on 9 August 1830, after the revolutionary victory of the July Revolution of 1830, and ending 26 Februar ...

*1880s:

Georges Ernest Boulanger Georges Ernest Jean-Marie Boulanger (29 April 1837 – 30 September 1891), nicknamed Général Revanche ("General Revenge"), was a French general and politician. An enormously popular public figure during the second decade of the Third Repub ...

affair *1887: Schnaebele incident *1887: Wilson scandal, which led to the resignation of

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Jules Grévy François Judith Paul Grévy (15 August 1807 – 9 September 1891), known as Jules Grévy (), was a French people, French lawyer and politician who served as President of France from 1879 to 1887. He was a leader of the Opportunist Republicans, M ...

*1890s:

Panama scandals The Panama scandals (also known as the Panama Canal Scandal or Panama Affair) was a corruption affair that broke out in the French Third Republic in 1892, linked to a French company's failed attempt at constructing a Panama Canal. Close to half ...

*1894: Dreyfus affair,

treason Treason is the crime of attacking a state (polity), state authority to which one owes allegiance. This typically includes acts such as participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to Coup d'état, overthrow its government, spy ...

conviction of

Alfred Dreyfus Alfred Dreyfus (9 October 1859 – 12 July 1935) was a French Army officer best known for his central role in the Dreyfus affair. In 1894, Dreyfus fell victim to a judicial conspiracy that eventually sparked a major political crisis in the Fre ...

, exposed by writer

Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, ; ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of Naturalism (literature), naturalism, and an important contributor to ...

on 13 January 1898 *1904: the Affair of the Cards, sometimes called the Affair of the Casseroles. *1928:

Marthe Hanau Marthe Hanau (1890 – 19 July 1935) was a Frenchwoman who successfully defrauded French financial markets in the 1920s and the 1930s. Early life Marthe Hanau was born in Lille to the family of a Jewish industrialist. She married Lazare Bloch ...

affair *1930:

Albert Oustric Albert Oustric (2 September 1887 – 16 April 1971) was a French entrepreneur and banker. He was the son of a cafe proprietor, and held various jobs before managing to raise capital for a hydroelectric power generation company. He founded a small ...

affair *1934: Stavisky Affair,

embezzlement Embezzlement (from Anglo-Norman, from Old French ''besillier'' ("to torment, etc."), of unknown origin) is a type of financial crime, usually involving theft of money from a business or employer. It often involves a trusted individual taking ...

and

political corruption Political corruption is the use of powers by government officials or their network contacts for illegitimate private gain. Forms of corruption vary but can include bribery, lobbying, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, parochialism, patronage, influen ...

*1949: the Generals Affair, a political-military scandal during the

First Indochina War The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam, and alternatively internationally as the French-Indochina War) was fought between French Fourth Republic, France and Việ ...

*1950: the

Henri Martin Affair The Henri Martin affair was a political-military scandal that occurred under the French Fourth Republic during the First Indochina War in the early 1950s. Henri Martin, a French communist ( PCF) activist, was arrested by the military police in 19 ...

, a political-military scandal during the

*1958: the ballets roses, a scandal most notably involving then President of the Senate,

André Le Troquer André Le Troquer (27 October 1884 – 11 November 1963) was a French politician and socialist lawyer. He served as president of the National Assembly from 12 January 1954 to 10 January 1955, and a second time from 24 January 1956 to 4 October ...

, in which a group of girls aged 15 to 17 performed "ballets" that ended in orgies

Under the Fifth Republic

*1965: the Ben Barka affair, disappearance of the Moroccan opposition leader

Mehdi Ben Barka Mehdi Ben Barka (; 1920 – disappeared 29 October 1965) was a Moroccan nationalist, Arab socialist, politician, revolutionary, anti-imperialist, head of the left-wing National Union of Popular Forces (UNFP) and secretary of the Tricontinenta ...

. *1968: The Markovic affair *1974: ** Eurodif affair **Cardinal

Jean Daniélou Jean-Guenolé-Marie Daniélou (; 14 May 1905 – 20 May 1974) was a French Jesuit and cardinal, an internationally well known patrologist, theologian and historian and a member of the Académie française. Biography Early life and studies Jean ...

's death in the house of a prostitute **''

Le Monde (; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...

'' reveals the existence of the

SAFARI A safari (; originally ) is an overland journey to observe wildlife, wild animals, especially in East Africa. The so-called big five game, "Big Five" game animals of Africa – lion, African leopard, leopard, rhinoceros, African elephant, elep ...

government database A government database collects information for various reasons, including climate monitoring, securities law compliance, geological surveys, patent applications and grants, surveillance, national security, border control, law enforcement, public he ...

, prompting the creation of the CNIL agency in charge of respect of civil rights and

data privacy Information privacy is the relationship between the collection and dissemination of data, technology, the public expectation of privacy, contextual information norms, and the legal and political issues surrounding them. It is also known as data ...

. *1979: **

Robert Boulin Robert Boulin (20 July 1920 – 30 October 1979) was a French politician who served as Minister of Labour in the French Cabinet and was at the centre of a major real-estate scandal that ended only with his death in mysterious circumstances. At t ...

affair; a minister of the third

Raymond Barre Raymond Octave Joseph Barre (; 12 April 192425 August 2007) was a French politician and economist. He was a Vice President of the European Commission and Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs under three presidents ( Rey, Malfatti a ...

government, Boulin was found dead in mysterious circumstances on 30 October 1979 **

Diamonds Affair The Diamonds affair, known in France as "l'affaire des diamants", was a political scandal in the 5th French Republic. In 1973, the French Minister of Finance, future president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, was offered two diamonds from the Presiden ...

involving Bokassa *1981: the ''

Canard enchaîné Canard (meaning "duck" in French) may refer to: Aviation *Canard (aeronautics), a small wing in front of an aircraft's main wing * Aviafiber Canard 2FL, a single seat recreational aircraft of canard design * Voisin Canard, aircraft developed b ...

'' uncovered the collaborationist role of former official

Maurice Papon Maurice Papon (; 3 September 1910 – 17 February 2007) was a French civil servant and Nazi collaborator who was convicted of crimes against humanity committed during the occupation of France. Papon led the police in major prefectures from ...

under

Vichy France Vichy France (; 10 July 1940 – 9 August 1944), officially the French State ('), was a French rump state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II, established as a result of the French capitulation after the Battle of France, ...

; the latter would eventually be convicted of crimes against humanity *1985:

sinking of the Rainbow Warrior The sinking of ''Rainbow Warrior'', codenamed Opération Satanique, was an act of French state terrorism. Described as a "covert operation" by the Division Action, "action" branch of the French foreign intelligence agency, the Directorate-Gene ...

by the French

DGSE The Directorate-General for External Security (, , DGSE) is France's foreign intelligence agency, equivalent to the British MI6 and the American CIA, established on 27 November 1943. The DGSE safeguards French national security through intellige ...

intelligence agency *1986:

Chernobyl disaster On 26 April 1986, the no. 4 reactor of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, located near Pripyat, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ukraine), exploded. With dozens of direct casualties, it is one of only ...

Jacques Chirac Jacques René Chirac (, ; ; 29 November 193226 September 2019) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and 1986 to 1988, as well as Mayor of Pari ...

'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

and Interior Minister

Charles Pasqua Charles Victor Pasqua (18 April 192729 June 2015) was a French businessman and Gaullist politician. He was Interior Minister from 1986 to 1988, under Jacques Chirac's ''cohabitation'' government, and also from 1993 to 1995, under the government ...

*1980s: contaminated blood scandal *The ''

'' satirical newspaper fought to bring to light evidence of alleged corruption during President

's tenure as Mayor of Paris. *1990s: Angolagate (arms-for-oil scandal) ** ''La Fayette'' scandal *1994:

Yann Piat Yann Annabelle Piat (née Marie; 12 June 1949 – 25 February 1994) was a French politician. She served in the National Assembly from 1986 to 1994, first with the extreme right party National Front, then with the centrist party Union for Fren ...

affair; a former National Front MP, assassinated on 25 February 1994) *1994: Dauphiné News affair; Minister

Alain Carignon Alain Carignon (; born 23 February 1949 in Vizille (Isère)) is a conservative French politician. From 1986 to 1995, he was deputy to the National Assembly, before becoming a junior minister in charge of environmental issues in the second Chi ...

indicted, later sentenced to 29 months in prison *1998: affair

Elf An elf (: elves) is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic peoples, Germanic folklore. Elves appear especially in Norse mythology, North Germanic mythology, being mentioned in the Icelandic ''Poetic Edda'' and the ''Prose Edda'' ...

- 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 Hervé Gaymard (born 31 May 1960) is a French politician and a member of The Republicans conservative party. He served as the country's Minister of Finance from 30 November 2004 until his resignation on 25 February 2005. Gaymard attended S ...

's ( UMP) lavish state-funded apartment led to his resignation in 2005 *2006: Clearstream affair allegedly involving Prime Minister

Dominique de Villepin Dominique Marie François René Galouzeau de Villepin (; born 14 November 1953) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 31 May 2005 to 17 May 2007 under President Jacques Chirac. In his career working at the Ministry ...

(UMP) accused of attempting to discredit his political rivals, including UMP Leader

Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa ( ; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. In 2021, he was found guilty of having tried to bribe a judge in 2014 to obtain information ...

, by spreading false allegations concerning the Taiwan frigates scandal. * Since 2010 **

Bettencourt affair The Bettencourt affair involves allegations of illegal payments made by billionaire heiress Liliane Bettencourt to François-Marie Banier and members of the French government associated with Nicolas Sarkozy in 2010. History In June 2010, Ms. Bet ...

** Karachi affair ** Sylvie Andrieux affair **

Alleged Libyan financing in the 2007 French presidential election Libya allegedly bankrolled the presidential campaign of Nicolas Sarkozy with up to €50 million in pay-outs. Sarkozy has denied wrongdoing and rejected suggestions he was a Libyan agent of influence during his tenure as president of France. He h ...

Cahuzac affair On 19 March 2013 Jérôme Cahuzac resigned as a minister in charge of fighting against tax fraud due to Tax-fraud, tax fraud allegations. He later admitted that he had held a secret foreign bank account for about 20 years. As a consequence, he wa ...

** 2012 UMP leadership election fraud accusations ** Thomas Thevenoud affair ** Kader Arif affair **

Bruno Le Roux Bruno Le Roux (; born 2 May 1965) is a French politician of the Socialist Party (France), Socialist Party who served as the Minister of the Interior of France from December 2016 to March 2017. Political career Le Roux was a member of the Natio ...

affair **

Fillon affair The Fillon affair (also the Penelope Fillon affair or Penelopegate) is a political-financial scandal involving immediate family members of French politician François Fillon being given paid jobs that involved no or very little actual work. The c ...

Benalla affair The Benalla affair () or Benalla affairs (''affaires Benalla'' or ''affaires Macron-Benalla'') are political and judicial cases involving Alexandre Benalla (), who served as a security officer and deputy chief of staff to President of France Em ...

** Richard Ferrand affair

References

External links

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 {{DEFAULTSORT:Political scandals in France

Scandals A scandal can be broadly defined as the strong social reactions of outrage, anger, or surprise, when accusations or rumours circulate or appear for some reason, regarding a person or persons who are perceived to have transgressed in some way a ...