2010 in Europe

This is a list of 2010 events that occurred in Europe.

Incumbents

Albania

• President – Bamir Topi (2007–2012)
• Prime Minister – Sali Berisha (2005–2013)

Andorra

• Co-Prince (French) – Nicolas Sarkozy (2007–2012)
• Co-Prince (Episcopal) – Joan Enric Vives Sicília (2003–2025)
• Head of Government – Jaume Bartumeu (2009–2011)

Armenia

• President – Serzh Sargsyan (2008–2018)
• Prime Minister – Tigran Sargsyan (2008–2014)

Austria

• President – Heinz Fischer (2004–2016)
• Chancellor – Werner Faymann (2008–2016)

Azerbaijan

• President – Ilham Aliyev (2003– )
• Prime Minister – Artur Rasizade (2003–2018)

Belarus

• President – Alexander Lukashenko (1994– )
• Prime Minister – Sergei Sidorsky (2003–28 December 2010); Mikhail Myasnikovich (28 December 2010–2014)

Belgium

• Monarch – Albert II (1993–2013)
• Prime Minister – Yves Leterme (2009–25 November 2010); Elio Di Rupo (6 December 2011–2014)
  • Note: Belgium operated under a **caretaker government** (Leterme) for most of 2010 following the collapse of the governing coalition in April.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

• Chair of the Presidency – Željko Komšić (2009–10 July 2010); Haris Silajdžić (10 July 2010–10 November 2010); Nebojša Radmanović (10 November 2010–2011)
• Chairman of the Council of Ministers – Nikola Špirić (2007–2012)

Bulgaria

• President – Georgi Parvanov (2002–2012)
• Prime Minister – Boyko Borisov (2009–2013)

Croatia

• President – Stjepan Mesić (2000–18 February 2010); Ivo Josipović (18 February 2010–2015)
• Prime Minister – Jadranka Kosor (2009–2011)

Cyprus

• President – Demetris Christofias (2008–2013)

Czech Republic

• President – Václav Klaus (2003–2013)
• Prime Minister – Jan Fischer (2009–28 June 2010); Petr Nečas (28 June 2010–2013)

Denmark

• Monarch – Margrethe II (1972–2024)
• Prime Minister – Lars Løkke Rasmussen (2009–2011)

Estonia

• President – Toomas Hendrik Ilves (2006–2016)
• Prime Minister – Andrus Ansip (2005–2014)

European Union

• President of the European Commission – José Manuel Barroso (2004–2014)
• President of the European Parliament – Jerzy Buzek (2009–2012)
• President of the European Council – Herman Van Rompuy (2009–2014)
• High Representative – Catherine Ashton (2009–2014)
• Presidency of the Council (First Half) – José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (for **Spain**) (1 January 2010–30 June 2010)
• Presidency of the Council (Second Half) – Yves Leterme (for **Belgium**) (1 July 2010–31 December 2010)

Finland

• President – Tarja Halonen (2000–2012)
• Prime Minister – Matti Vanhanen (2003–22 June 2010); Mari Kiviniemi (22 June 2010–2011)

France

• President – Nicolas Sarkozy (2007–2012)
• Prime Minister – François Fillon (2007–2012)

Georgia

• President – Mikheil Saakashvili (2008–2013)
• Prime Minister – Nika Gilauri (2009–2012)

Germany

• President – Horst Köhler (2004–31 May 2010; Resigned); Jens Böhrnsen (31 May 2010–30 June 2010; Acting); Christian Wulff (30 June 2010–2012)
• Chancellor – Angela Merkel (2005–2021)

Greece

• President – Karolos Papoulias (2005–2015)
• Prime Minister – George Papandreou (2009–2011)

Hungary

• President – László Sólyom (2005–6 August 2010); Pál Schmitt (6 August 2010–2012)
• Prime Minister – Gordon Bajnai (2009–29 May 2010); Viktor Orbán (29 May 2010– )

Iceland

• President – Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson (1996–2016)
• Prime Minister – Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir (2009–2013)

Ireland

• President – Mary McAleese (1997–2011)
• Taoiseach – Brian Cowen (2008–2011)

Italy

• President – Giorgio Napolitano (2006–2015)
• Prime Minister – Silvio Berlusconi (2008–2011)

Kosovo

• President – Fatmir Sejdiu (2008–2010); Vacant (2010–2011)
• Prime Minister – Hashim Thaçi (2008–2014)

Latvia

• President – Valdis Zatlers (2007–2011)
• Prime Minister – Valdis Dombrovskis (2009–2014)

Liechtenstein

• Monarch – Hans-Adam II (1989– )
• Head of Government – Klaus Tschütscher (2009–2013)

Lithuania

• President – Dalia Grybauskaitė (2009–2019)
• Prime Minister – Andrius Kubilius (2008–2012)

Luxembourg

• Monarch – Henri (2000–2025)
• Prime Minister – Jean-Claude Juncker (1995–2013)

Macedonia (FYROM)

• President – Gjorge Ivanov (2009–2019)
• Prime Minister – Nikola Gruevski (2006–2016)

Malta

• President – George Abela (2009–2014)
• Prime Minister – Lawrence Gonzi (2004–2013)

Moldova

• President – Mihai Ghimpu (2009–28 December 2010; Acting); Marian Lupu (28 December 2010–2012; Acting)
• Prime Minister – Vlad Filat (2009–2013)

Monaco

• Monarch – Albert II (2005– )
• Minister of State – Michel Roger (2010–2016)

Montenegro

• President – Filip Vujanović (2003–2018)
• Prime Minister – Milo Đukanović (2008–29 December 2010); Igor Lukšić (29 December 2010–2012)

Netherlands

• Monarch – Beatrix (1980–2013)
• Prime Prime Minister – Jan Peter Balkenende (2007–14 October 2010); Mark Rutte (14 October 2010–2024)

Norway

• Monarch – Harald V (1991– )
• Prime Minister – Jens Stoltenberg (2005–2013)

Poland

• President – Lech Kaczyński (2005–10 April 2010; Died in plane crash); Bronisław Komorowski (10 April 2010–6 August 2010; Acting/Sworn in); Bronisław Komorowski (6 August 2010–2015)
• Prime Minister – Donald Tusk (2007–2014)

Portugal

• President – Aníbal Cavaco Silva (2006–2016)
• Prime Minister – José Sócrates (2005–2011)

Romania

• President – Traian Băsescu (2004–2014)
• Prime Minister – Emil Boc (2008–2012)

Russia

• President – Dmitry Medvedev (2008–2012)
• Prime Minister – Vladimir Putin (2008–2012)

San Marino

• Captains Regent – Stefano Simoncini & Giovanni Francesco Ugolini (1 October 2009–1 April 2010); Elisabetta Renzi & Michele Muratori (1 April 2010–1 October 2010); Giovanni Lonfernini & Firoenza Bollini (1 October 2010–1 April 2011)

Serbia

• President – Boris Tadić (2004–2012)
• Prime Prime Minister – Mirko Cvetković (2008–2012)

Slovakia

• President – Ivan Gašparovič (2004–2014)
• Prime Minister – Robert Fico (2006–8 July 2010); Iveta Radičová (8 July 2010–2012)

Slovenia

• President – Danilo Türk (2007–2012)
• Prime Minister – Borut Pahor (2008–2012)

Spain

• Monarch – Juan Carlos I (1975–2014)
• Prime Minister – José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero (2004–2011)

Sweden

• Monarch – Carl XVI Gustaf (1973– )
• Prime Minister – Fredrik Reinfeldt (2006–2014)

Switzerland

• President of the Confederation – Doris Leuthard (2010)
• Federal Council – Collective Head of State and Government

Turkey

• President – Abdullah Gül (2007–2014)
• Prime Minister – Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (2003–2014)

Ukraine

• President – Viktor Yushchenko (2005–25 February 2010); Viktor Yanukovych (25 February 2010–2014)
• Prime Prime Minister – Yulia Tymoshenko (2007–11 March 2010); Mykola Azarov (11 March 2010–2014)

United Kingdom

• Monarch – Elizabeth II (1952–2022)
• Prime Minister – Gordon Brown (2007–11 May 2010); David Cameron (11 May 2010–2016)

Vatican City

• Sovereign – Pope Benedict XVI (2005–2013)
• President of the Pontifical Commission – Giovanni Lajolo (2006–2011)
• Secretary of State – Tarcisio Bertone (2006–2013)

Events

January

Heavy snowfall in Alton, England

• January 1: Spain assumed the Presidency of the Council of the European Union from Sweden.
• January 3: Two passenger trains collided in Bilecik, Turkey. One train driver was killed and seven passengers were injured.^[1]
• January 7: 22 people had died in the UK due to a cold snap.^[2]
• January 10: The opposition Social Democrat, Ivo Josipović, won 60.3% of the vote in the second round run-off, beating the mayor of Zagreb, Milan Bandić.^[3]
• January 11: More than 5,300 residents in the regions of Shkodër and Lezhë were evacuated due to severe flooding in northern Albania.^[4]
• January 25: Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409 crashed into the Mediterranean Sea shortly after take-off from Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport, killing all 90 people on board.^[5]

February

• February 3: The sculpture L'Homme qui marche I by Alberto Giacometti sells in London for £65 million (US$103.7 million), setting a new world record for a work of art sold at auction.^[6]
• February 16: A bus carrying French children on a school trip has overturned in Italy, killing at least three people on board and injuring another 20.^[7]
• February 18: A scattered exchange of gunfire on the line of contact dividing Azerbaijani and the Karabakh Armenian military forces left six people dead and one wounded.^[8]
• February 25: A collision between two trains in Buizingen, Belgium, left 18 people dead and 162 injured.^[9]
• February 26: At least 63 people were killed and one million homes were left without power in western France after cyclone Xynthia crossed Western Europe.^[10][11]

March

• March 20: 67 people were arrested and several people were injured in Bolton town centre during a clash between members of the English Defence League and Unite Against Fascism.^[12]
• March 24: A set of 16 goods wagons runaway for 8 km from a freight station at Alnabru in Oslo to hit and destroy a quayside warehouse. Three people died, and four were seriously injured.^[13]
• March 29: At least 40 people died after two female suicide bombers struck the Moscow Metro.^[14][15]
• March 31: A coach crashed into a river after falling from a bridge in a snowstorm in Lanark, Scotland, killing a 17-year-old girl and injuring 44 passengers.^[16]

April

Merano derailment

The eruption of Eyjafjallajökull seen from Þórolfsfell

• April 1: A locomotive ran into a stationary passengers tram after its brakes failed during a test ride in Spišská Nová Ves, Slovakia, killing three people and injuring seriously eight others.^[17]
• April 10: The President of Poland, Lech Kaczyński, was among 96 killed when their airplane crashed in western Russia.^[18]
• April 12: A passenger train was hit by a landslide and partially derailed near Merano, Italy, killing 9 and injuring 28.^[19]
• April 14: Over 95,000 flights had been cancelled all across Europe because violent eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull.^[20]
• April 25: Austrian candidate for chairmanship, Heinz Fischer, won the presidential election with 79.3% of the valid votes.^[21]

May

Flooding in Bielsko-Biała

Demonstrators in front of the Greek Parliament, 29 May

• May 5: Up to 500,000 people protested in front of the Greek Parliament amid plans to cut public spending and raise taxes as austerity measures in exchange for a €110 billion bail-out.^[22] The protest degenerated in violences between protesters and riot police, resulting in three deaths and dozens of injuries.^[23]
• May 14: Throughout Eastern Europe, 21 people were killed in floods triggered by the Windstorm Yolanda.
• May 24: Three people were killed and 35 injured when a Honda Civic car collided with a school bus near Keswick, Cumbria.^[24]

June

• June 2: 13 people were killed and 25 injured in a shooting spree in Cumbria, England.^[25][26]
• June 6: A passenger train collided with boulders that had fallen on the line near Falls of Cruachan, Scotland, derailed and caught fire. Several people were hospitalised and the line was blocked for a week.^[27]
• June 15: Heavy rainfall in southern France caused severe floods in the department of Var, resulting in at least 25 deaths.^[28]
• June 23: A passenger train struck a group of people who were crossing the railway on the level at Platja de Castelldefels station near Barcelona.^[29] Twelve people were killed, and fourteen injured.^[30]

July

Love Parade disaster

• July 1: Belgium assumed the Presidency of the Council of the European Union from Spain.
• July 11: A traffic accident, near Inishowen, in Ireland, killed eight people.^[31]
• July 13: Two trains collided at Korzybie, in north Poland, injuring 36 people.^[32]
• July 18: Fourteen people were killed and twelve injured after a bus fell off a cliff in northern Albania, near the city of Durrës.^[33]
• July 23: One person was killed and 42 were injured when an eastbound Glacier Express derailed near Fiesch on the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn.^[34]
• July 24: At least 21 people have been killed and 510 more injured in a stampede at the Love Parade dance music festival in the German city of Duisburg.^[35]

August

• August 6: One person died and about 40 were injured in a train derailment in Naples, Italy, on the Circumvesuviana railway.^[36]
• August 17
  • A sewage tanker lorry struck and derailed a passenger train on a level crossing at Little Cornard, England. 21 people were injured.^[37]
  • The Intercity-Express from Frankfurt to Paris hit a truck that had slid onto the rail near Lambrecht. The first two carriages derailed and ten people were injured.^[38]

September

• September 19:
  • In the 2010 Swedish general election, the nationalist Sweden Democrats won representation in the Swedish Riksdag for the first time. It has held seats, since then.
  • A woman armed with an automatic weapon has shot dead three people and injured 18 others at a hospital in Germany before being killed by police.^[39][40]
• September 26: A Polish tourist bus returning from Spain careered into a bridge on a rain-soaked German motorway, killing 13 people.^[41]

October

Ajka alumina plant accident

The French Union Solidaires protesting in the Place du Martroi in Orléans

• October 1: 40 people were injured when a train derailed at Skotterud, Norway.^[42]
• October 4: Nine people died and 122 were injured in flooding from a ruptured red sludge reservoir at the Ajkai Timföldgyár alumina plant, Hungary.^[43]
• October 12
  • A bus packed with rush-hour commuters crashed into a train at a level crossing in Ukraine after jumping a red traffic light, killing 45 people and leaving another 9 wounded.^[44]
  • At most 3.5 million people attended a series of demonstrations organised by the French Union leaders throughout France.^[45]

November

• November 11: More than 25,000 students protested in Dublin against increased student fees.^[46]

December

• December 10: Former Prime Minister of Croatia, Ivo Sanader, was arrested in Austria over charges of corruption.^[47]

Date unknown

• France becomes the first European country to impose a ban on full-face veils in public areas.

Deaths

January

• January 11
  • Miep Gies, 100, Dutch humanitarian (b. 1909)
  • Eric Rohmer, 89, French film director (b. 1920)
• January 19 - Panajot Pano, 70, Albanian footballer (b. 1939)
• January 22 - Jean Simmons, 80, British actress (b. 1929)

February

• February 1 - Steingrimur Hermannsson, 81, 19th Prime Minister of Iceland (b. 1928)
• February 6 - John Dankworth, 82, British jazz musician and composer (b. 1927)
• February 11 - Alexander McQueen, 40, British fashion designer (b. 1969)
• February 14 - Dick Francis, 89, British author and jockey (b. 1920)

March

• March 3 - Michael Foot, 96, British politician (b. 1913)
• March 12 - Miguel Delibes, 89, Spanish author and journalist (b. 1920)
• March 21 - Wolfgang Wagner, 90, German festival director (b. 1919)
• March 22
  • James Black, 85, British pharmacologist and Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1924)
  • Valentina Tolkunova, 63, Soviet and Russian singer (b. 1946)
• March 27 - Vasily Smyslov, 89, Soviet-Russian chess grandmaster (b. 1921)
• March 30 - Martin Sandberger, 98, German army officer (b. 1911)

April

• April 6 - Corin Redgrave, 70, British actor and political activist (b. 1939)
• April 8 - Malcolm McLaren, 64, British musician and manager (b. 1946)
• April 10
  • Ryszard Kaczorowski, 90, Polish statesman (b. 1919)
  • Lech Kaczynski, 60, President of Poland (b. 1949)
• April 16 - Tomas Spidlik, 90, Czech cardinal (b. 1919)
• April 21 - Juan Antonio Samaranch, 89, Spanish sports official (b. 1920)
• April 25 - Alan Sillitoe, 82, British writer (b. 1928)
• April 30 - Paul Mayer, 98, German cardinal (b. 1911)

May

• May 2 - Lynn Redgrave, 67, British actress (b. 1943)
• May 4 - Luigi Poggi, 92, Italian cardinal (b. 1917)
• May 5 - Giulietta Simionato, 99, Italian opera singer (b. 1910)
• May 8 - Andor Lilienthal, 99, Hungarian chess grandmaster (b. 1911)
• May 15 - Besian Idrizaj, 22, Austrian footballer (b. 1987)
• May 17
  • Bobbejaan Schoepen, 85, Belgian singer (b. 1925)
  • Yvonne Loriod, 86, French pianist (b. 1924)
• May 18 - Edoardo Sanguineti, 79, Italian writer (b. 1930)
• May 31 - Louise Bourgeois, 98, French-born American sculptor (b. 1911)

June

• June 1 - Andrei Voznesensky, 77, Soviet-Russian poet (b. 1933)
• June 2 - Giuseppe Taddei, 93, Italian baritone (b. 1916)
• June 3 - Vladimir Arnold, 72, Soviet-Russian mathematician (b. 1937)
• June 9 - Marina Semyonova, 101, Russian ballerina (b. 1908)
• June 10 - Sigmar Polke, 69, German painter and photographer (b. 1941)
• June 14 - Leonid Kizim, 68, Soviet-Ukrainian cosmonaut (b. 1941)
• June 16 - Ronald Neame, 99, British cinematographer, producer and director (b. 1911)
• June 18
  • Marcel Bigeard, 94, French military officer (b. 1916)
  • Jose Saramago, 87, Portuguese writer and Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1922)
• June 26 - Algirdas Brazauskas, 77, 9th President of Lithuania (b. 1932)

July

• July 2 - Beryl Bainbridge, 76, British novelist (b. 1934)
• July 5 - Cesare Siepi, 87, Italian opera singer (b. 1923)
• July 17 - Bernard Giraudeau, 63, French actor and film director (b. 1947)
• July 24 - Alex Higgins, 61, Northern Irish snooker player (b. 1949)

August

• August 6 - Tony Judt, 62, British historian (b. 1948)
• August 7 - Bruno Cremer, 80, French actor (b. 1923)
• August 12 - Guido de Marco, 79, 6th President of Malta (b. 1931)
• August 16 - Nicola Cabibbo, 75, Italian physicist (b. 1935)
• August 17 - Francesco Cossiga, 82, 63rd Prime Minister and 8th President of Italy (b. 1928)
• August 18 - Carlos Hugo of Bourbon-Parma, 80, Spanish aristocrat (b. 1930)
• August 26 - Raimon Panikkar, 91, Spanish theologian (b. 1918)
• August 27 - Anton Geesink, 76, Dutch judoka (b. 1934)
• August 30 - Alain Corneau, 67, French filmmaker (b. 1943)
• August 31 - Laurent Fignon, 50, French road bicycle racer (b. 1960)

September

• September 9 - Bent Larsen, 75, Danish chess grandmaster (b. 1935)
• September 12 - Claude Chabrol, 80, French film director (b. 1930)
• September 29 - Georges Charpak, 86, French Nobel physicist (b. 1924)

October

• October 4 - Norman Wisdom, 95, British actor and comedian (b. 1915)
• October 9 - Maurice Allais, 99, French Nobel economist (b. 1911)
• October 14 - Benoit Mandelbrot, 85, French-American mathematician (b. 1924)
• October 30 - Harry Mulisch, 83, Dutch writer (b. 1927)

November

• November 2 - Rudolf Barshai, 86, Soviet-Russian conductor and violist (b. 1924)
• November 3 - Viktor Chernomyrdin, 72, 31st Prime Minister of Russia (b. 1938)
• November 5 - Hajo Herrmann, 97, German fighter pilot and lawyer (b. 1913)
• November 10 - Dino De Laurentiis, 91, Italian film producer (b. 1919)
• November 12 - Henryk Gorecki, 76, Polish composer (b. 1933)
• November 13 - Luis Garcia Berlanga, 89, Spanish film director (b. 1921)
• November 17 - Isabelle Caro, 30, French model and actress (b. 1930)
• November 29
  • Bella Akhmadulina, 73, Soviet-Russian poet (b. 1937)
  • Mario Monicelli, 95, Italian actor, screenwriter and director (b. 1915)

December

• December 12 - Tom Walkinshaw, 64, British racing car driver and team owner (b. 1946)
• December 21 - Enzo Bearzot, 83, Italian footballer and coach (b. 1927)

See also

• Europe portal
• 2010s portal

• 2010 in the European Union
• List of state leaders in 2010 § Europe