2006 in France

• President: Jacques Chirac
• Prime Minister: Dominique de Villepin

• 9 March – Sablé-sur-Sarthe hostage crisis: A former teacher takes 23 hostages including 21 students.^[1]
• April – France formally charges six defendants of the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp.^[2]
• July – France begins the trial against six defendants of the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp.^[2]
• 11 October – A train crash at Zoufftgen kills six people.^[3]
• 16 November – Franco–Italian–Spanish Middle East Peace Plan is announced.
• Full date unknown:
  • Axess Vision Technology, a medical device manufacturer is founded.^[4]

January

• 16 January – Rebiha Khebtani, politician (born 1926).
• 27 January – Jean-Christophe Lafaille, mountaineer (born 1965).

February

• 9 February – André Strappe, international soccer player (born 1928).
• 12 February – Henri Guédon, percussionist (born 1944).
• 13 February – Ilan Halimi, kidnap and murder victim (b. c1982).
• 14 February – Darry Cowl, musician and actor (born 1925).

March

• 9 March – Jean Leymarie, art historian (born 1919).
• 10 March – Jean Hermil, Roman Catholic bishop of Viviers (born 1917).
• 22 March – Pierre Clostermann, flying ace, author, engineer and politician (born 1921).
• March – Jean Desclaux, rugby union coach (born 1922).

April

• 5 April – Alain de Boissieu, Army chief-of-staff (born 1914).
• 17 April – Jean Bernard, physician and haematologist (born 1907).
• 25 April – Roger Duchêne, biographer (born 1930).
• 30 April – Jean-François Revel, politician, journalist, author and philosopher (born 1924).

May

• 1 May – Jean-Pierre Hubert, author (born 1941).
• 9 May – Edouard Jaguer, poet and art critic (born 1924).
• 23 May – Philippe Amaury, publishing tycoon and entrepreneur (born 1940).
• 24 May – Claude Piéplu, actor (born 1923).
• 26 May – Édouard Michelin, businessman (born 1963)^[5]
• 26 May – Raymond Triboulet, resistance fighter and politician (born 1906).
• 27 May – Michael Riffaterre, literary critic and theorist (born 1924).
• 29 May – Johnny Servoz-Gavin, motor racing driver (born 1942).

June

• 5 June – André Mandouze, academic and journalist (born 1916).
• 6 June – Léon Weil, World War I veteran (born 1896).
• 11 June – Rolande Falcinelli, organist, pianist and composer (born 1920).
• 15 June – Raymond Devos, humorist, comedian and clown (born 1922).
• 19 June – René Renou, wine expert (born 1952).
• 20 June – Raymond Daudel, theoretical and quantum chemist (born 1920).
• 21 June – Jacques Lanzmann, writer, scriptwriter and lyric writer (born 1927).

July

• 3 July – Francis Cammaerts, Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent (born 1916).
• 8 July – Catherine Leroy, photojournalist and photographer (born 1945).
• 19 July - Pascal Renwick [fr], French voice actor (born 1954)
• 20 July – Charles Bettelheim, economist and historian (born 1913).
• 20 July – Gérard Oury, actor, writer and producer (born 1919).
• 29 July – Pierre Vidal-Naquet, historian (born 1930).

August

• 2 August – Maurice Kriegel-Valrimont, militant communist, resistance fighter and politician (born 1914).
• 10 August – Olivier Lecerf, businessman and racehorse owner (b. c1928).
• 17 August – Bernard Rapp, film director and television news presenter (born 1945).
• 26 August – François Lamoureux, European civil servant (born 1946).
• 26 August – Marie-Dominique Philippe, Dominican philosopher and theologian (born 1912).

September

• 3 September – Françoise Claustre, archaeologist, (born 1937).
• 9 September – Gérard Brach, film director and screenwriter (born 1927).
• 11 September – Solange Fernex, pacifist activist and politician (born 1934).
• 20 September – Henri Jayer, vintner (born 1922).
• 30 September – André Schwarz-Bart, novelist (born 1928).

October

• 6 October – Claude Luter, jazz clarinetist (born 1923).
• 9 October – Coccinelle, transsexual actress and entertainer (born 1931).
• 9 October – Danièle Huillet, filmmaker (born 1936).
• 12 October – Eugène Martin, motor racing driver (born 1915).
• 17 October – Daniel Emilfork, actor (born 1924).
• 28 October – Tina Aumont, actress (born 1946).

November

• 2 November – Adrien Douady, mathematician (born 1935).
• 3 November – Paul Mauriat, musical director (born 1925).
• 7 November – Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, journalist and politician (born 1924).
• 10 November – Maurice Floquet, France's oldest man on record (born 1894).
• 11 November – Anicée Alvina, singer and actress (born 1953).
• 12 November – Alphonse Halimi, boxer (born 1932).
• 14 November – Gustave Choquet, mathematician (born 1915).
• 14 November – Bertrand Poirot-Delpech, journalist, essayist and novelist (born 1929).
• 23 November – Philippe Noiret, actor (born 1930).

December

• 1 December – Claude Jade, actress (born 1948).
• 27 December – Pierre Delanoë, songwriter/lyricist (born 1918).

Full date unknown

• Janine Chasseguet-Smirgel, psychoanalyst (born 1928).