1960 France's first French-speaking groups

"While American A.A.s had met in Paris as early as 1949, the first known French-speaking group forms after the newspaper France Soir runs a series of articles on Alcoholics Anonymous by journalist Joseph Kessel in the summer of 1960. A letter to the newspaper from Manuel M. (originally from Spain) results in his receiving A.A. literature and the start of a group of four: Manuel, François B., Jean M., and Lennard (a Swede). In 1961 the group, which takes the name Groupe Quai d'Orsay, will gain the sponsorship of Americans who established an A.A. group in Paris in 1955. More groups are formed, growth accelerates, and in the early 1970s France's General Service Office will open in Rue Trousseau."

(AAWS Inc)

(see here)