2016 in Europe

This is a list of events that took place in Europe in 2016.

Events

January

Protest in Cologne against New Year's Eve sexual assaults

• 1 January
  • The Netherlands takes over the rotating presidency of the EU Council from Luxembourg.
  • San Sebastián (Spain)^[1] and Wrocław (Poland)^[2] are named European Capitals of Culture.
• 8 January – 32 people, including 22 asylum seekers, are arrested in connection to a series of apparently co-ordinated sexual assaults and thefts in the German city of Cologne on New Year's Eve.^[3][4]
• 9 January
  • Tens of thousands of people take to the streets in cities around Poland to protest against a new law giving the government control of state media.^[5][6]
  • 14 people are injured and the government building is set alight as opposition protests in Kosovo's capital Pristina turn violent.^[7][8]
• 12 January – A suspected suicide bombing kills at least 11 people and injures 14 in Istanbul's Sultanahmet Square.^[9][10][11]
• 24 January – Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa is elected President of Portugal.^[12]
• 28 January – A boat carrying Iraqi Kurdish migrants sinks off the Greek island of Samos, killing at least 24 people, including several children, with 11 others missing.^[13]
• 30 January – A massive pile-up involving 70 vehicles, including a bus and several lorries, kills four people and injures 30 on A1 motorway in western Slovenia.^[14][15]

February

Rescue teams on the site of Bad Aibling rail accident

• 9 February – Two passenger trains collide in the German town of Bad Aibling, with 11 people killed and 82 injured.^[16][17][18]
• 12 February – Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill sign an Ecumenical Declaration in the first such meeting since the East–West Schism in 1054.
• 15 February – Bosnia and Herzegovina formally applies to join the European Union.^[19]
• 28 February – A total of 36 people are presumed dead following three explosions at a coal mine in Vorkuta, Russia.^[20][21][22]

March

Entrance of Maalbeek metro station, two days after Brussels bombings

• 5 March – The party of Slovak prime minister Robert Fico wins the election but loses the parliamentary majority.^[23]
• 13 March – At least 34 people are killed and 125 wounded in a suicide car bombing in the Turkish capital of Ankara.^[24][25]
• 18 March – Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam is shot and arrested in a police raid in the Molenbeek area of Brussels after a four-month international manhunt.^[26]
• 19 March – Flydubai Flight 981 crashes while attempting to land at Rostov-on-Don Airport, Russia, killing all 62 people on board.^[27][28]
• 20 March – At least 14 people are killed after a coach carrying Erasmus exchange students crashes near Barcelona.^[29][30]
• 22 March – 32 people are killed and 316 injured in attacks at Brussels Airport and Maalbeek metro station.^[31][32][33]
• 24 March – Ex-Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić is sentenced to 40 years in prison after being found guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity committed during the Bosnian War.^[34]

April

• 3 April – A ceasefire is announced after at least 64 soldiers are killed in clashes between Azerbaijani and Armenian forces over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.^[35][36]
• 4 April – Thousands of people protest in Reykjavík, asking for the resignation of Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, after Panama Papers investigation revealed that he had hidden investments in tax heavens.^[37]
• 18 April – More than 400 migrants and refugees drown in the Mediterranean Sea while trying to cross by boat from Egypt to Italy.^[38]
• 21 April – The Bulgarian parliament approves the introduction of compulsory voting.^[39][40]
• 29 April – A helicopter ferrying passengers from a Norwegian oil platform crashes in the North Sea, killing all 13 people on board.^[41][42]

Predicted and scheduled events

May

• 22 May – Legislative elections are scheduled to be held in Cyprus.

June

• 1 June – Gotthard Base Tunnel, the world's longest and deepest traffic tunnel, is scheduled to be opened.
• 25 June – Presidential elections are scheduled to be held in Iceland.

September

• Parliamentary elections are scheduled to be held in Belarus.
• 18 September – Legislative elections are scheduled to be held in Russia.

October

• Presidential elections are scheduled to be held in Bulgaria.
• 9 October – Parliamentary elections are scheduled to be held in Lithuania.
• 21 October – Parliamentary elections are scheduled to be held in Montenegro.

November

• Legislative elections are scheduled to be held in Romania.

Date unknown

• Orbital Technologies, a Russian private spaceflight company, plans to launch a space hotel for wealthy tourists.
• The Holy and Great Synod of the Orthodox Church is planned to take place in Istanbul.

Deaths

January

David Bowie

Alan Rickman

• 1 January – Vilmos Zsigmond, Hungarian-American cinematographer (b. 1930)
• 2 January – Michel Delpech, French singer-songwriter and actor (b. 1946)
• 3 January – Peter Naur, Danish computer scientist (b. 1928)
• 4 January – Michel Galabru, French actor (b. 1922)
• 5 January – Pierre Boulez, French composer, conductor, writer and pianist (b. 1925)
• 6 January – Silvana Pampanini, Italian actress and director (b. 1925)
• 7 January – André Courrèges, French fashion designer (b. 1923)
• 8 January – Maria Teresa de Filippis, Italian racing driver (b. 1926)
• 10 January – David Bowie, English singer, songwriter and producer (b. 1947)
• 14 January – Alan Rickman, English actor and director (b. 1946)
• 18 January – Michel Tournier, French writer (b. 1924)
• 19 January – Ettore Scola, Italian screenwriter and film director (b. 1931)
• 26 January – Black, English singer-songwriter (b. 1962)
• 29 January – Jacques Rivette, French film director and film critic (b. 1928)
• 30 January – Frank Finlay, English stage, film and television actor (b. 1926)
• 31 January – Terry Wogan, Irish-British radio and television broadcaster (b. 1938)

February

Umberto Eco

• 13 February
  • Trifon Ivanov, Bulgarian footballer (b. 1965)
  • Slobodan Santrač, Serbian football manager and player (b. 1946)
• 15 February – George Gaynes, Finnish-born American actor (b. 1917)
• 17 February – Andrzej Żuławski, Polish film director and writer (b. 1940)
• 19 February – Umberto Eco, Italian novelist, essayist, literary critic, philosopher and semiotician (b. 1932)
• 22 February – Douglas Slocombe, English cinematographer (b. 1913)
• 29 February
  • Hannes Löhr, German football player and manager (b. 1942)
  • José Parra Martínez, Spanish football defender (b. 1925)

March

Johan Cruyff

Imre Kertész

• 5 March – Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Austrian conductor (b. 1929)
• 8 March – George Martin, English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, audio engineer and musician (b. 1926)
• 10 March – Keith Emerson, English keyboardist and composer (b. 1944)
• 11 March
  • Iolanda Balaș, Romanian Olympic high jumper (b. 1936)
  • Dragan Nikolić, Serbian actor (b. 1943)
• 14 March – Peter Maxwell Davies, English composer and conductor (b. 1934)
• 18 March
  • Lothar Späth, German politician (b. 1937)
  • Guido Westerwelle, Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor of Germany (b. 1961)
• 20 March – Anker Jørgensen, Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Denmark (b. 1922)
• 21 March – Andrew Grove, Hungarian-born American businessman, engineer, author and science pioneer (b. 1936)
• 24 March
  • Roger Cicero, German jazz and pop musician (b. 1970)
  • Johan Cruyff, Dutch professional football player and coach (b. 1947)
• 31 March
  • Georges Cottier, Swiss Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church (b. 1922)
  • Hans-Dietrich Genscher, Vice Chancellor, Foreign Minister and Interior Minister of Germany (b. 1927)
  • Zaha Hadid, Iraqi-born British architect (b. 1950)
  • Imre Kertész, Hungarian author (b. 1929)

April

• 3 April – Cesare Maldini, Italian football manager and player (b. 1932)
• 4 April – Chus Lampreave, Spanish actress (b. 1930)
• 12 April – Arnold Wesker, English dramatist (b. 1932)
• 16 April – Louis Pilot, Luxembourgian football player and manager (b. 1940)
• 19 April – Walter Kohn, Austrian-born American theoretical physicist and theoretical chemist (b. 1923)
• 20 April – Guy Hamilton, English film director (b. 1922)
• 24 April – Klaus Siebert, German biathlete (b. 1955)
• 25 April – Martin Gray, Polish writer (b. 1922)
• 27 April – Viktor Gavrikov, Lithuanian-Swiss chess Grandmaster (b. 1957)

References

1. "Donostia / San Sebastián 2016 European Capital of Culture".
2. "Wrocław - Europejska Stolica Kultury 2016".
3. Jasmine Coleman (8 January 2016). "Cologne sex attacks: Search for answers". BBC News.
4. Noah Barkin, Paul Carrel (8 January 2016). "Asylum seekers among suspects in Cologne's New Year violence". Reuters.
5. "Polish media laws: Nationwide protests are staged". BBC News. 9 January 2016.
6. "Thousands protest against Polish government control of state media". AFP. 9 January 2016.
7. "Kosovo Police Disperse Violent Protesters". The Wall Street Journal. 9 January 2016.
8. "Kosovo opposition protests turn violent in Pristina". BBC News. 9 January 2016.
9. Matthew Weaver (12 January 2016). "Istanbul blast: 10 dead in suspected suicide bombing are mostly foreigners – live updates". The Guardian.
10. "At least 10 killed, 15 wounded in suicide bombing near tourists on central Istanbul square - media". RT. 12 January 2016.
11. Ceylan Yeginsu (12 January 2016). "Suicide Bomber Kills at Least 10 in Istanbul District of Sultanahmet". The New York Times.
12. "Centre-right candidate wins Portugal's presidential election". The Guardian. 24 January 2016.
13. Sewell Chan (28 January 2016). "24 Die After Iraqi Kurdish Refugees’ Boat Sinks Off Greek Island". The New York Times.
14. "Slovenia 50-car pile-up leaves four dead". BBC News. 30 January 2016.
15. "Fog pileup of 70 vehicles kills 4, injures 30 in Slovenia". Daily Mail. 30 January 2016.
16. Kate Connolly (9 February 2016). "Bavaria train crash: at least eight dead in southern Germany". The Guardian.
17. Adam Withnall (9 February 2016). "Germany train crash: Eight dead and 150 injured as two trains collide near Bad Aibling in Bavaria". The Independent.
18. Joern Poeltz (9 February 2016). "Eight dead, 150 hurt in train crash in Bavaria -police".
19. "Bosnia-Herzegovina applies to join European Union". BBC News. 15 February 2016.
20. Tim Hume, Tina Burnside, Radina Gigova (28 February 2016). "Russian mine disaster death toll hits 36 after explosion during failed rescue effort". CNN.
21. "Russian mine accident leaves 36 dead". BBC News. 28 February 2016.
22. Olga Razumovskaya (28 February 2016). "Total of 36 Feared Dead After Russian Mine Explosions". The Wall Street Journal.
23. "Slovakia election: anti-immigration PM wins, but loses majority". The Guardian. 6 March 2016.
24. Samuel Osborne, Adam Withnall (13 March 2016). "Ankara explosion: At least 34 killed and over 100 wounded by 'car bomb' in Turkish capital". The Independent.
25. Raziye Akkoc (13 March 2016). "Ankara explosion: At least 34 killed and 125 wounded after large blast in Turkish capital". The Telegraph.
26. Angelique Chrisafis (18 March 2016). "Paris attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam shot and arrested in Brussels". The Guardian.
27. Lidia Kelly, William Maclean (19 March 2016). "Plane crashes in Russia, all 62 people on board killed". Reuters.
28. Matthew Chance, Susannah Cullinane, Greg Botelho (19 March 2016). "Flydubai plane crashes in Russia; 62 aboard reported dead". CNN.
29. Adam Withnall (20 March 2016). "Spain bus crash: At least 14 dead as coach carrying Erasmus exchange students crashes near Barcelona". The Independent.
30. "At least 14 dead after bus carrying Erasmus students crashes in Spain". Euronews. 20 March 2016.
31. "Brussels attacks: Zaventem and Maelbeek bombs kill many". BBC News. 22 March 2016.
32. Matthew Weaver, Haroon Siddique, Raya Jalabi, Claire Phipps (23 March 2016). "Brussels: Islamic State launches attacks on airport and station – as it happened". The Guardian.
33. Natalia Drozdiak, Gabriele Steinhauser, Matthias Verbergt (22 March 2016). "ISIS Claims Responsibility for Brussels Attacks; More Than 30 Dead". The Wall Street Journal.
34. "Radovan Karadzic jailed for Bosnia war Srebrenica genocide". BBC News. 24 March 2016.
35. "'Ceasefire' After Dozens Killed In Caucasus". Sky News. 3 April 2016.
36. Mariam Harutyunyan, Emil Guliyev (3 April 2016). "Dozens dead in Nagorny Karabakh clashes". Yahoo! News.
37. "Panama Papers leak leads to ‘largest protest’ in Iceland’s history". RT. 4 April 2016.
38. Nick Squires (18 April 2016). "400 migrants feared dead after boat capsizes in Mediterranean". The Telegraph.
39. Slav Okov (21 April 2016). "Bulgaria Imposes Compulsory Voting to Increase Turnout". Bloomberg.
40. "Bulgarian Parliament Approves Introduction of Compulsory Voting". novinite.com. 21 April 2016.
41. "Norway helicopter crash: 13 killed near Bergen". BBC News. 29 April 2016.
42. James Rothwell, Peter Foster (29 April 2016). "13 dead including one Briton after helicopter crashes in Norway". The Telegraph.