2017 in Europe explained

This is a list of events that took place in Europe in 2017.

Incumbents

European Union

• President of the European Commission

Jean-Claude Juncker

• President of the Parliament

• • Martin Schulz (until 17 January)
  • Antonio Tajani (starting 17 January)
• President of the European Council

Donald Tusk

• Presidency of the Council of the EU

• • Malta (January–July)
  • Estonia (July–December)

Events

January

• January 1 – At least 39 people are killed in an attack on a nightclub in Istanbul.
• January 5 – A cold wave across Europe leaves at least 61 dead, including several migrants and homeless people.
• January 18 – 30 people are missing and feared dead after an avalanche buries a small hotel in the mountains of central Italy, following a series of earthquakes.
• January 20 – At least 16 people are killed and about 40 injured after a bus carrying Hungarian students crashes and bursts into flames on a highway in northern Italy.

February

• February 2 – The European Parliament unanimously approves visa-free regime in the Schengen Area for Georgia.
• February 5 – In the largest protest since the 1989 Revolution, an estimated 600,000 people rally in main Romanian cities against a Government Ordinance decriminalizing some graft offenses.
• February 12 – Former foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier is elected Germany's president.
• February 24 – Slovenia permits same-sex marriages for the first time under a law giving gay couples largely the same rights as heterosexuals though barring them from jointly adopting children.

March

• March 2 – A methane gas explosion kills eight miners and injures six in western Ukraine.
• March 9 – Donald Tusk is re-elected as President of the European Council despite opposition from his home country, Poland.
• March 13 – János Áder is re-elected for a second five-year term as President of Hungary by the country's parliament during a secret vote.
• March 15 – Mark Rutte's centre-right VVD wins Dutch general election, positioning him for a third successive term as prime minister.
• March 22 – Three people die and at least 40 are injured after an attacker drives a car along a pavement in Westminster, stabs a policeman and is shot dead by police in the grounds of Parliament.

April

• April 2 – Conservative Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić wins Serbia's presidential election by a huge margin.
• April 3 – An explosion on a train carriage in Saint Petersburg's underground metro kills at least 14 people and injures dozens more.
• April 7 – Five people die and 14 are seriously injured after a hijacked truck ploughs into a shopping centre during a terrorist attack in Stockholm.
• April 16 – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the country's prime minister declare victory in a referendum designed to hand Erdoğan sweeping powers.
• April 28 – Ilir Meta is voted in as President of Albania amid an opposition boycott.
• April 29 – Turkey blocks access to Wikipedia, citing a law that allows the government to ban certain websites for the protection of the public.

May

• May 7 – Emmanuel Macron wins French presidential election over rival Marine Le Pen.
• May 13 – Portugal's Salvador Sobral wins the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with his song "Amar pelos dois".
• May 22 – 22 people are killed and hundreds are injured when a suicide bomber attacks concertgoers at Manchester Arena.

June

• • • June 3 Seven people are killed and 48 injured in a terrorist attack in London after assailants use a vehicle to plow into pedestrians on London Bridge and attack others with knives in nearby Borough Market.
  • More than 1,500 people are injured after Juventus fans watching the Champions League final stampede in a Turin square after mistaking firecrackers for an explosion or gunshots.
  • Malta's Prime Minister Joseph Muscat wins a second five-year term in office in early general elections.
• June 5 – Montenegro becomes the 29th member of NATO.
• June 8 – British Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservative wins the parliamentary elections but falls short of a majority.
  • • June 14 At least 79 people are dead or missing and presumed dead in London's Grenfell Tower fire.
  • Leo Varadkar becomes Ireland's first openly gay Taoiseach.
• June 17 – A raging forest fire envelops a stretch of road in central Portugal, killing at least 61 people, including about 30 motorists who are trapped in their cars.
• June 18 – Emmanuel Macron's La République En Marche! wins absolute majority in French parliamentary elections.
• June 27 - 2017 cyberattacks on Ukraine
• June 29 – Serbian parliament elects the new government of Prime Minister Ana Brnabić, the first woman and first openly gay person to hold the office.
• June 30 – German lawmakers vote by a wide margin to legalize same-sex marriage, a landmark decision which comes just days after Chancellor Angela Merkel drops her longstanding opposition to a free vote on the issue.

August

• 17 August - 2017 Barcelona attack

October

• October - Austria bans the face-covering Islamic burka.^[1]

Deaths

January

• 1 January
  • Tony Atkinson, Welsh economist (b. 1944)
  • Derek Parfit, English philosopher (b. 1942)
• 2 January
  • John Berger, English art critic, novelist, painter and poet (b. 1926)
  • Viktor Tsaryov, Russian footballer (b. 1931)
• 3 January – Igor Volk, Ukrainian-born Russian cosmonaut and test pilot (b. 1937)
  • • 4 January Ezio Pascutti, Italian footballer (b. 1937)
  • Georges Prêtre, French conductor (b. 1924)
• 7 January – Mário Soares, 17th President and 105th Prime Minister of Portugal (b. 1924)
• 8 January – Peter Sarstedt, English singer, instrumentalist and songwriter (b. 1941)
• 9 January – Zygmunt Bauman, Polish sociologist and philosopher (b. 1925)
  • • 10 January Roman Herzog, President of Germany (b. 1934)
  • Oliver Smithies, English-born American geneticist and physical biochemist (b. 1925)
• 11 January – François Van der Elst, Belgian footballer (b. 1954)
• 12 January
  • Giulio Angioni, Italian writer and anthropologist (b. 1939)
  • Graham Taylor, English footballer and manager (b. 1944)
• 13 January
  • Gilberto Agustoni, Swiss prelate of the Roman Catholic Church (b. 1922)
  • Lord Snowdon, English photographer and filmmaker (b. 1930)

See also

• 2017 in the European Union
• List of state leaders in Europe in 2017

Notes and References

1. Web site: Burqa ban takes effect in Austria. News. 26 October 2017.