Simone Veil

1927 - 2017

Country of citizenship: France, Belgium

Native language: French

Languages spoken, written or signed: French

Educated at: Sciences Po, Paris Law Faculty

Occupation: politician, magistrate, lawyer, author, judge

Award received: Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, Knight of the National Order of Merit, Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Schiller Prize of Marbach, Charlemagne Prize, Princess of Asturias Award for International Cooperation, European Civil Rights Prize of the Sinti and Roma, North–South Prize, Monismanien Prize, Order of the Three Stars, 2nd Class, honorary doctor of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, honorary doctor of the Université libre de Bruxelles, Grand Cross of the Order of Prince Henry, honorary doctor of the University of Edinburgh, golden class of the honour medal for Health and Social Affairs, honorary doctorate from Princeton University, honorary doctor of the Bar-Ilan University, Honorary Doctorate from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, honorary doctor of Brandeis University, Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour, Heinrich Heine Prize, honorary doctorate of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Coudenhove-Kalergi Plaque, honorary citizen of Brussels

Position held: Member of the European Parliament, Ministry of Labour, Health and Solidarity, President of the European Parliament, member of the Consitutional council, general secretary, seat 13 of the Académie française

Bibliographic databases:

Simone Veil (French: [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. 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, and then as its honorary president. Among many honours, she was made a British 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. Among 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. Source: Wikipedia (en)