Simone Veil
Simone Veil (French pronunciation: [simɔn vɛj] ⓘ; née Jacob; 13 July 1927 – 30 June 2017) was a French magistrate, Holocaust survivor, and politician who served as Health Minister in several governments and was President of the European Parliament from 1979 to 1982, the first woman to hold that office. As health minister, she is best remembered for advancing women's rights in France, in particular for the 1975 law that legalized abortion, today known as the Veil Act (French: Loi Veil). From 1998 to 2007, she was a member of the Constitutional Council, France’s highest legal authority.
Simone Veil | |
|---|---|
Veil in 1984 | |
| Member of the Constitutional Council | |
| In office 3 March 1998 – 3 March 2007 | |
| Appointed by | René Monory |
| President | |
| Preceded by | Jean Cabannes |
| Succeeded by | Renaud Denoix de Saint Marc |
| Minister for Social Affairs, Health and Urban Issues | |
| In office 30 March 1993 – 11 May 1995 | |
| President | François Mitterrand |
| Prime Minister | Édouard Balladur |
| Deputy | Philippe Douste-Blazy |
| Preceded by | Bernard Kouchner |
| Succeeded by | Élisabeth Hubert |
| President of the European Parliament | |
| In office 17 July 1979 – 18 January 1982 | |
| Preceded by | Emilio Colombo |
| Succeeded by | Piet Dankert |
| Member of the European Parliament for France | |
| In office 17 July 1979 – 30 March 1993 | |
| Preceded by | Constituency established |
| Succeeded by | Jean-Marie Vanlerenberghe |
| Minister of Health | |
| In office 28 May 1974 – 4 July 1979 | |
| President | Valéry Giscard d'Estaing |
| Prime Minister | |
| Preceded by | Michel Poniatowski |
| Succeeded by | Jacques Barrot |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Simone Annie Jacob 13 July 1927 Nice, France |
| Died | 30 June 2017 (aged 89) Paris, France |
| Resting place | Panthéon |
| Political party |
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| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Alma mater | |
A Holocaust survivor of both Auschwitz-Birkenau and Bergen-Belsen, she was a firm believer in European integration as a way of guaranteeing peace. She served as president of the Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah from 2000 to 2007, then subsequently as honorary president. Among many honours, she was made an honorary dame in 1998, was elected to the Académie Française in 2008, and in 2012 received the grand cross of the Légion d’honneur, the highest class of the highest French order of merit.
One of France’s most revered figures, Simone Veil and her husband were buried at the Panthéon on 1 July 2018. Her eulogy was given by President Emmanuel Macron.