2014 in Europe

Summarize Timeline Fact Check

• President of the European Commission:
  • José Manuel Barroso (until 1 November)
  • Jean-Claude Juncker (starting 1 November)
• President of the Parliament: Martin Schulz
• President of the European Council:
  • Herman Van Rompuy (until 1 December)
  • Donald Tusk (starting 1 December)
• Presidency of the Council of the EU:
  • Greece (January–July)
  • Italy (July–December)

• 1 January
  • Greece takes over the presidency of the European Union.
  • Latvia becomes the 18th EU member state to adopt the euro despite public opposition.^[1][2]
  • Jamal al-Jamal, the Palestinian ambassador to the Czech Republic, is killed in an explosion near his home in Prague.^[3][4]
• 7 January – Four U.S. Air Force personnel die after a military helicopter crashes near Cley, on the North Sea coast of England.^[5][6]
• 11 January – About 110,000 people march peacefully through Bilbao, demanding Basque independence and freedom for more than 600 ETA prisoners.^[7][8]
• 22 January – At least five people are shot dead and hundreds injured as demonstrators clash with police over new laws limiting the right to protest in Ukraine.^[9][10][11]
• 23 January – At least 20 people are killed and 28 injured when a bus veers off a road in central Turkey.^[12]
• 28 January – Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov submits his resignation to President Viktor Yanukovych in a bid to defuse the conflict in Ukraine.^[13][14]

• 2 February
  • A referendum on Gagauzia's independence from Moldova is held with 98.9 percent of voters supporting Gagauzia's self-determination.^[15] The authorities from Chișinău declare it illegal.^[16]
  • Up to 500,000 people protest on the boulevards of Paris and Lyon against same-sex marriage.^[17]
• 4 February – At least 13 people die and five others are injured when a commuter train slams into a shuttle bus in Sumy Oblast, Ukraine.^[18]
• 6 February – More than 130 people, including 104 police officers, are injured in a second day of anti-government demonstrations in the Bosnian town of Tuzla.^[19]
• 7 February
  • The opening ceremony of the XXII Olympic Winter Games is held in the Russian city of Sochi.^[20]
  • The earliest human footprints outside Africa are discovered in Norfolk, United Kingdom.^[21]
  • About 30 police officers are injured in the Kosovo capital Pristina in clashes with students protesting over suspicions of fraud in the state university.^[22]
• 9 February – In a national referendum, Swiss voters approve re-imposing quotas on immigration from European Union countries.^[23][24][25]
• 13 February – Belgium becomes the first country to legalise euthanasia without any age limits.^[26]
• 14 February – Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta resigns after pressure from his own Democratic Party to step down.^[27][28]
• 18 February – Seven miners are killed and nine injured in an explosion at the Pivnichna coal mine in Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast.^[29][30]
• 20 February – At least 106 people are dead and large parts of Kyiv's occupied Independence Square are burning after a bloody escalation of Ukraine's three-month political crisis.^[31][32][33]
• 22 February
  • The Parliament of Ukraine removes President Viktor Yanukovych from office and frees ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.^[34][35] The dismissed President describes measures taken by the Parliament as a "coup".^[36]
  • The Secretary of the Democratic Party, Matteo Renzi, is appointed Prime Minister of Italy by President Giorgio Napolitano. Renzi is the youngest Prime Minister in the history of Italy.^[37]

• 1 March – Russian Federation Council approves military intervention in Ukraine amid growing tensions in Crimea.^[38][39][40]
• 4 March – After nine years in office, Estonian PM Andrus Ansip announces his resignation to enable a successor to lead his party into 2015 elections.^[41]
• 16 March – People in Crimea vote overwhelmingly to leave Ukraine and rejoin Russia. Ukraine, the European Union, and the United States condemn the move.^[42][43][44]
• 21 March – Russia formally annexes Crimea^[45][46] while the European Union and Ukraine sign an association agreement.^[47][48]
• 22 March – 101 people are injured and 29 arrested after an anti-austerity march turns violent in Madrid.^{[citation needed]}
• 24 March – The U.S. and Western allies cancel G8 summit in Sochi, excluding Russia from group.^[49][50][51]
• 27 March – Turkey blocks access to YouTube after a high-level intelligence leak.^[52][53]
• 29 March – Philanthropist Andrej Kiska wins Slovakia's presidential run-off against current Prime Minister Robert Fico.^[54][55]

• 4 April – 20 people are injured as protesters from across Europe clash with police in Brussels at a demonstration against high unemployment.^[56]
• 7 April – Pro-Russian activists occupying a government building in Donetsk proclaim the creation of a sovereign Donetsk People's Republic, independent from the central government in Kyiv.^[57] The same action is taken by protesters in Kharkiv.^{[citation needed]}
• 10 April – The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe suspends Russia's right to vote and take part in election observations as a consequence to its takeover of Crimea.^[58][59]
• 11 April – Seven people are killed when an explosion caused by leaking gas tears through a coal mine near the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk.^[60]
• 12 April – An anti-austerity protest in Rome turns violent, 80 people being injured in clashes between angry protesters and riot police.^[61]
• 16 April
  • Pro-Russian separatists in Odesa announced the creation of Odesa People's Republic and urged residents to block traffic in the city.^[62]
  • The Supreme Soviet of Tiraspol votes unanimously a solicitation to the State Duma, the Federation Council and President Vladimir Putin to recognize Transnistrian independence and annexation to Russia.^[63][64] Romanian Foreign Minister condemns vigorously this action, cataloging it as a defiance to Moldova's territorial integrity.^[65]
• 27 April – Popes John XXIII and John Paul II are declared saints by Pope Francis in the first papal canonization since 1954.^[66][67]
• 28 April – Gjorge Ivanov is re-elected President of the Republic of Macedonia, while the ruling coalition led by VMRO-DPMNE win plurality in the Parliament.^[68]

• 1 May – Large demonstrations are organised in major European cities with the occasion of Labor Day.^{[citation needed]} In Moscow, over 100,000 march through the Red Square, reviving a tradition last seen before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.^{[citation needed]} In Istanbul, 90 people are injured and 142 arrested after security forces assault protesters, using water cannons and tear gas.^{[citation needed]}
• 2 May – The Ukrainian government launches an offensive on pro-Russian rebels in Sloviansk while clashes in Odesa kill 46 people.^[69][70]
• 5 May
  • Slovenian Prime Minister Alenka Bratušek resigns after losing the leadership of her party 10 days ago.^[71]
  • At least 22 people are dead and seven missing after two boats carrying illegal immigrants collide in the Aegean Sea off the coast of Greece.^[72][73]
• 10 May – "Rise Like a Phoenix" by Austrian singer Conchita Wurst wins the Eurovision Song Contest.^[74][75][76]
• 12 May – Pro-Russian insurgents in Donetsk and Luhansk declare the cities independent states whilst on choosing to join Russia after controversial hastily arranged referendums.^[77]
• 13 May – An explosion and fire in a coal mine in western Turkey kill at least 301 miners^[78] and trap dozens more.^[79][80]
• 17 May – At least 80 people are killed after days of heavy rainfall caused widespread flooding in Southeast Europe.^[81][82][83]
• 20 May – A freight train collides with a passenger train near Moscow, killing at least nine people and injuring 51 others.^[84]
• 22 May – At least 16 Ukrainian soldiers are killed by pro-Russian separatists who ambush their checkpoint in Donetsk Oblast.^[85] Hours after the assault on the checkpoint, rebel leaders in neighboring Luhansk impose martial law until government troops cease their offensive.^[86]
• 24 May
  • Four people are killed in a shooting at the Jewish Museum of Belgium in Brussels.^[87][88]
  • 278 people are injured and dozens of buildings damaged as 6.9 earthquake strikes off Samothrace, Greece.^[89]
  • "Winter Sleep", directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, wins the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.^[90]
• 25 May
  • The pro-European businessman Petro Poroshenko wins the presidential election in Ukraine with 56% of the vote.^[91][92]
  • Lithuania's incumbent President Dalia Grybauskaitė declares victory following a second round of voting in the Baltic country's presidential elections.^[93][94]
  • Eurosceptic and far-right parties seize ground in elections to the European parliament, in what France's PM called a "political earthquake".^[95]
• 27 May – At least 40 pro-Russian separatists die in fighting over control of Donetsk International Airport.^[96]

• 1 June – Slovenian President Borut Pahor dissolves parliament and schedules an early election for 13 July.^[97]
• 2 June – Spain's King Juan Carlos abdicates after 38 years on the throne and his son Prince Felipe will succeed him.^[98][99] The announcement of the abdication is followed by large anti-monarchy demonstrations in Madrid and Barcelona.^{[citation needed]}
• 14 June – A Ukraine military Ilyushin Il-76 airlifter is shot down, killing all 49 people on board.^{[citation needed]}
• 16 June – Russia cuts off gas to Ukraine in a dispute over unpaid bills that could disrupt supplies to the rest of Europe.^[100][101]
• 20 June – At least 14 people are killed and several are missing after torrential rains cause flash flooding in northeastern Bulgaria.^[102][103]
• 27 June – Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova sign the European Union Association Agreement.^[104][105]

• 1 July – Italy takes over the presidency of the European Union.
• 2 July – Two migrant boats capsize in the Mediterranean Sea, resulting in the death of 115 people.^[106][107]
• 15 July
  • 23 people are killed^[108] and over 160 injured as several subway cars derail on the Moscow Metro.^[109]
  • The European Parliament votes to elect Jean-Claude Juncker as President of the European Commission.^[110]
• 17 July – A Malaysian Airlines passenger plane is shot down on the Russian–Ukraine border, killing all 298 people on board.^[111][112]
• 19 July – A crash involving several buses on a highway in eastern Germany kills 10 people and injures 69.^[113]
• 23 July – Bulgaria's Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski resigns ahead of snap elections to end months of political turmoil.^[114][115]
• 24 July – Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk resigns after the governing coalition collapses.^[116]
• 25 July – Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister for Regional Policy Volodymyr Groysman is appointed as acting prime minister.^[117]
• 28 July – The Hague's Permanent Court of Arbitration orders Russia to repay US$50 billion to shareholders of the Yukos Oil Company for breaching the Energy Charter Treaty.^[118][119]

• 10 August – Recep Tayyip Erdoğan wins Turkey's first direct presidential election.^[120][121]
• 25 August
  • The Prime Minister of France Manuel Valls presents President François Hollande with the resignation of the cabinet, with a new cabinet to be appointed next day.^[122][123]
  • The President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko dissolves the Parliament and calls new elections for 26 October.^[124]
• 30 August – EU leaders appoint Italy's Federica Mogherini as EU foreign policy chief and Poland's Donald Tusk as European Council president.^[125]
• 31 August – Eight people are killed and eleven others injured after an explosion destroys a four-storey building in a suburb of Paris.^[126]

• 4 September – Over 150 state leaders and officials participate in the Newport Summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It is the first time a NATO summit will be held in Britain outside London.
• 11 September
  • About 500 migrants are feared dead after their ship is rammed by another boat near Malta.^[127][128]
  • Up to 1.8 million people form a human chain in the largest demonstration for the independence of Catalonia.^[129]
• 14 September – The Social Democrats, led by Stefan Löfven, win a plurality in the Swedish general election.^[130][131]
• 18 September – Scotland votes against independence from the United Kingdom.^{[132][133][134]}
• 21 September – More than 26,000 people in Moscow participate in the largest demonstration so far against Russian president Vladimir Putin and the War in Donbas.^[135][136]

• 2 October – A series of powerful blasts at a Bulgarian explosives plant kills 15 employees and injures three others.^[137][138]
• 5 October – A truck enters into a column of 40 cars near Thessaloniki, Greece, killing five people and injuring 32.^[139]
• 9 October – Estonia becomes the first former Soviet republic to legalize gay partnerships and grant equal rights to same-sex couples.^[140]
• 26 October – Pro-Western parties led by Ukraine's PM and president win almost 50% of the votes in the first parliamentary election after the revolution.^[141][142]
• 29 October – Up to 100,000 Hungarians rally in Budapest despite the government's amendment of a controversial internet tax bill.^[143][144]
• 30 October – Sweden officially recognises Palestine as a sovereign state.^[145]

• 2 November – Aleksandr Zakharchenko and Igor Plotnitsky win the general elections held in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics.^[146] Ukraine, the European Parliament and the United States don't recognize these elections.^[147]
• 3 November – At least 24 migrants die after their boat sinks in Bosphorus Strait near Istanbul.^[148][149]
• 16 November – Klaus Iohannis becomes the first ethnic German President of Romania.^{[150][151][152]}
• 30 November – Pro-European parties in Moldova win a narrow majority of votes in a strongly contested parliamentary election.^[153][154]

• 2 December – French Parliament votes for the recognition of the State of Palestine.^[155]
• 4 December – Gunmen attack a police post and storm a building in Grozny, capital of Russia's southern province of Chechnya, killing 10 policemen in clashes in which 10 of the attackers are also killed.^[156]
• 17 December – European Parliament adopts the resolution on recognition of Palestine statehood by 498 votes in favour.^[157]
• 27 December – Andrei Kobyakov replaces Mikhail Myasnikovich as Belarus' new prime minister in the biggest government reshuffle since 2010.^[158]
• 29 December – Five people are killed and 414 evacuated as ferry catches fire in the Ionian Sea.^[159][160]