Simone Veil

General Council

Born in Nice, France, Simone Veil is a law graduate of the Institute for Political Studies in Paris. Her family was deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where she would remain until the camp’s liberation on the 27th of January 1945. She followed a career as a high public officer in the area of Justice and was appointed minister of Health in 1974. She has also been a Member of the European Parliament and, from 1979 to 1982, she was the first elected President of the European Parliament by universal suffrage. In 1993, she held the office of Minister for Social Affairs, Health and the Cities. In 1998, she was appointed to the Constitutional Council, where she is currently in office. Her actions on behalf of human rights, European and international affairs, health and the environment, amongst others, have won her public recognition, awards, prizes and ‘honoris causa’ doctorates in several countries around the world.