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| 1988, Jan. 22 |
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| France and West Germany established a Defense and Security Council and an Economic and Finance Council during German prime minister Helmut Kohl's visit to France. | 1 |
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| April 24, May 8 |
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| François Mitterrand won a second term in the presidential elections with a landslide victory. | 2 |
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| April–May |
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| Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader of the radical right-wing National Front, received a high level of support in presidential elections (more than 14 percent in the first round). Since the advent of Socialist government in 1981, Le Pen had been a leader in the opposition, concentrating on issues of immigration and “insecurity” and thus gaining increasing political influence and media coverage. Though he won substantial percentages of votes in municipal elections in the mid-1980s, his racist remarks about Jews and immigrants caused widespread controversy and protest. | 3 |
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| May 9 |
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| Michel Rocard became prime minister. | 4 |
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| Nov. 25–26 |
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| On a visit to the Soviet Union, Mitterrand watched the launching of a French-Soviet space mission. | 5 |
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