2015 in Europe

Summarize Timeline Fact Check

• President of the European Commission: Jean-Claude Juncker
• President of the Parliament: Martin Schulz
• President of the European Council: Donald Tusk
• Presidency of the Council of the EU:
  • Latvia (January–July)
  • Luxembourg (July–December)

• 1 January
  • Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes the 19th Eurozone country.^[1]
  • The Eurasian Economic Union between Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Armenia comes into effect.^[2]
• 3 January – The Islamic-rooted government of Turkey authorizes the building of the first church in the country since 1923.^[3]
• 4 January – Eight people are presumed dead after the Cyprus-flagged cargo ship MV Cemfjord capsizes off the northern coast of Scotland.^[4][5]
• 7 January – Gunmen attack the Paris office of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 people and injuring eleven.^[6][7][8]
• 9 January – A member of the Islamic State attacks a Hypercacher kosher supermarket at Porte de Vincennes, Paris, killing four people and taking several hostages.^[9][10]
• 11 January
  • More than 3.7 million people, among them 60 heads of states and governments, march in France to condemn recent terrorist attacks in Paris.^[11][12]
  • Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović becomes the first female President of Croatia.^[13]
• 13 January – A shell hits a bus in eastern Ukraine, killing 12 civilians and wounding 18 more.^[14]
• 14 January – Giorgio Napolitano, the longest-serving President of Italy, resigns due to age.^[15][16]
• 15 January – Swiss National Bank abandons the cap on the franc's value relative to euro, causing a turmoil in international financial markets.^[17][18]
• January – The Hungarian town Mayor of Ásotthalom László Toroczkai calls for a Hungarian border barrier in the south of the country, to deal with the growing 2015 migrant crisis.^[19][20]
• 24 January – At least 29 civilians are killed and 102 injured in a mortar attack on Mariupol, Ukraine.^[21]
• 25 January – The Coalition of the Radical Left wins a plurality of seats in the Greek legislative election and forms a coalition government with the Independent Greeks.^[22][23][24]
• 26 January – An F-16 jet belonging to the Hellenic Air Force crashes at Los Llanos Air Base, Spain, during a NATO exercise, killing ten people and injuring 21.^[25][26]
• 27 January – 92 policemen are injured and 180 protesters arrested as anti-government demonstrations in Pristina turn violent.^[27][28]
• 31 January – Italy's parliament elects constitutional court judge Sergio Mattarella as the country's president.^[29][30]

• 12 February – The leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany reach a ceasefire deal after 17 hours of talks in Minsk, Belarus, on the War in Donbas.^[31][32][33]
• 14 February – Two people are killed in shootings at a free-speech seminar and at a synagogue service in Copenhagen.^[34][35]
• 18 February – Conservative Prokopis Pavlopoulos is elected President of Greece.^[36][37]
• 22 February – Two people are killed and 11 injured in an explosion at a peace rally in Kharkiv, Ukraine.^[38]
• 24 February – A Czech gunman opens fire at a restaurant in Uherský Brod, killing eight people.^[39]
• 27 February – Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov is assassinated in Moscow.^[40] The murder of former deputy PM is condemned by world leaders^[41] and sparks protests in Russia.^[42]

• 1 March – The Estonian Reform Party, led by Prime Minister Taavi Rõivas, wins the country's parliamentary election.^[43]
• 4 March – 33 people are killed and 14 injured following an explosion at Zasyadko coal mine in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine.^[44]
• 12 March
  • Iceland formally withdraws its candidacy to the European Union, filed in 2009 and frozen since 2013.^[45][46] The move is met with protests from civil society.^[47]
  • 30 people are feared dead and 40 more injured after a shopping center in Kazan collapses in a fire.^[48]
• 20 March – A solar eclipse is visible across much of Europe, with totality over the Faroe Islands and Svalbard.
• 24 March – Germanwings Flight 9525 crashes in the French Alps, killing all 150 people on board.^{[49][50][51][52]}

• 1 April – The Russian-flagged fishing trawler Dalniy Vostok sinks off the Kamchatka Peninsula, with 57 confirmed dead and 12 missing.^[53][54]
• 12–14 April – A series of wildfires in Southern Siberia kill 29 people and leave thousands homeless.^[55][56]
• 14 April – Up to 400 illegal migrants from Libya drown after their boat capsizes in the Mediterranean Sea.^[57]
• 19 April – As many as 700 people are feared dead after a boat carrying migrants capsizes in the Mediterranean Sea.^[58][59]
• 24 April – 14 migrants believed to be from Afghanistan and Somalia are hit by a train and killed while walking along railway tracks in Macedonia.^[60][61]

• 1 May – Expo 2015 opens in Milan, with 145 countries participating.^[62] Widespread rioting occurs in Milan as students protesting overspending clash with police.^[63][64]
• 5 May – 38 police officers and one protester are injured in Skopje in opposition-organized protests against conservative Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski's government.^[65][66]
• 7 May – The UK's Conservative Party, led by David Cameron, wins a majority of seats in the House of Commons.^[67][68]
• 10 May – Eight police officers and 14 alleged members of an armed group are killed in fighting in Kumanovo, Macedonia.^[69][70]
• 22 May – Ireland becomes the first country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage by constitutional referendum.^[71]
• 23 May – Sweden's Måns Zelmerlöw wins the 60th annual Eurovision Song Contest with electro-pop ballad "Heroes".^[72][73]
• 24 May – Opposition candidate Andrzej Duda is elected President of Poland.
• 27 May – Two separate criminal probes result in the arrest of seven FIFA officials and the raid of its headquarters by Swiss police.

• 5 June – Two people are killed and over 100 wounded in explosions at a rally by the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party in Diyarbakır.^[74]
• 7–8 June – The 41st G7 summit is held in Schloss Elmau, Bavaria.^[75]
• 14 June – Flooding in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, kills at least 19 people and releases zoo animals into the streets.^[76]
• June – the Hungarian cabinet approves construction of a 4 metres (13 ft) high barrier to stop migrants.^[77]
• 18 June – The centre-right opposition bloc led by Venstre wins the Danish general election, even though the Social Democratic party remains Denmark's largest.
• 20 June – Three people are killed and 43 injured as a man drives his SUV into a crowd in Graz, Austria.
• 24 June – 25 people are injured and at least 240 arrested in clashes between protesters and law enforcers over proposed electricity price increase in Armenian capital, Yerevan.^[78][79]
• 26 June – A man is decapitated and 12 others injured as a follower of the Islamic State group attacks an Air Products factory in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier.^[80]

• 1 July – Greece becomes the first advanced economy to miss a payment to the International Monetary Fund.
• 13 July – At least three people die and 13 others are injured in skirmish in the western Ukrainian town of Mukachevo.^{[citation needed]}
• 20 July – A suicide attack targeting activists in the Turkish town of Suruç kills at least 30 people and injures 100 more.^[81][82]
• 22 July – A high-speed train collides with a truck in the eastern Czech Republic, leaving three passengers dead and 17 injured.
• 24 July – An explosion at a fireworks factory in Modugno, Italy, kills at least seven people.^[83][84]

• 5 August – Some 400 migrants are rescued and 25 bodies recovered after a fishing boat carrying an estimated 600 capsizes in the Mediterranean Sea.^[85][86]
• 19 August – EU finance ministers formally approve the first tranche of a new €86 billion bailout for Greece after parliaments in member states back the move.^[87][88]
• 20 August
  • Two planes carrying dozens of parachutists collide mid-air over western Slovakia, killing seven people.^[89] 31 others on board survive by jumping out with their parachutes.^[90]
  • Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras submits his resignation and calls for early elections.^[91][92][93]
  • Macedonia declares a state of emergency on its southern and northern borders over a surge in migrants and refugees.^[94]
• 22 August – Eleven people are killed when a Hawker Hunter crashes onto a busy road during an airshow in Shoreham-by-Sea, United Kingdom.^[95][96]
• 27 August – Up to 71 refugees are found dead in the back of a freezer truck in eastern Austria.^[97][98]

• September – Hungary builds the Hungarian border barrier fence on its border with Serbia and Croatia.
• 9 September – Queen Elizabeth II becomes the longest-reigning British head of state, surpassing the reign of her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria.^[99]
• 13 September – At least 34 migrants drown in the Aegean Sea off the coasts of Farmakonissi trying to reach Europe.^[100][101]
• 15 September – The Hungarian government declares a state of emergency to cope with the influx of refugees, as almost 10,000 people are detained for illegally crossing the border from Serbia.^[102]
• 23 September – Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn resigns after company officials admit widespread rigging of diesel emissions test results.

• 4 October
  • Violent storms and flooding hit south-eastern France, killing at least 20 people with two more missing.^[103][104]
  • Portugal's governing centre-right coalition wins the country's general election, which has been widely seen as a referendum on four years of austerity.^[105][106]
• 10 October
  • At least 97 people are killed and more than 400 others injured in twin bombings at a peace rally in Ankara, Turkey.^{[107][108][109]}
  • 250,000 people protest in Berlin against the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership accord between the European Union and the United States.^[110]
• 11 October – Alexander Lukashenko is re-elected President of Belarus for a fifth term.^[111][112]
• 22 October – A masked man armed with a sword kills a teacher and a student in an attack at a school in Trollhättan, Sweden, before police fatally shoot him.^{[113][114][115]}
• 23 October – At least 43 people are killed in a head-on collision between a bus and a truck near the French town of Puisseguin.^{[116][117][118]}
• 30 October – A fire at a nightclub in downtown Bucharest kills 59 people and injures 152 more.^[119][120]

• 4 November – Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta and his government resign after mass protests over Colectiv nightclub fire.^{[121][122][123]}
• 13 November – Following a World Anti-Doping Agency investigation, the IAAF suspends Russia from all international competition in the sport of athletics.^{[124][125][126]}
• 13/14 November – At least 130 people are killed in a series of coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris.^{[127][128][129]}
• 21 November – Nearly 2 million people on the Crimean Peninsula are without electricity after two transmission towers in Ukraine were damaged by explosions.^[130]
• 24 November – Tensions rise between Russia and Turkey, after a Russian Su-24 warplane is shot down by a Turkish Air Force F-16 near the border between Turkey and Syria.

• 30 December-Poland's new conservative government by the Law and Justice Party (PiS) proposed a media bill that would allow it to control public service broadcasters TVP and Polish Radio via a national media council close to the government. This was condemned by the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF).^[131]

• 2 May – Princess Charlotte