The Fonds of Simone Veil

Biography

Simone Veil was born on 13 July 1927 in Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, France. In March 1944, Veil was deported to Auschwitz before being moved to Bergen-Belsen where she was interned until January 1945. She then returned to Paris where she studied law, graduating from the Institut d'études politiques in Paris. In 1956, she took the entrance exams for the French judiciary and then joined the Ministry of Justice. She entered politics in 1969, joining the private office of René Pleven, the Minister of Justice. Ten years later, in 1979, Veil became the first woman president of the European Parliament. She supported a large number of European associations, such as the European Fund for Freedom of Expression and the Foundation for Science and Culture in Europe, of which she was the honorary president. On the 20th of November 2008, she was elected a member of the Académie Française. 

She passed away on 30 June 2017.

Political posts held

• 1974-1979: French Minister of Health, Social Security and the Family
• 1979-1993: Member of the European Parliament (Liberal and Democratic Group, which became the Liberal, Democratic and Reform Group)
• 1979-1982: President of the European Parliament
• 1982-1984: Chair of the Legal Affairs Committee
• 1984-1986, 1989-1992: Member of the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Consumer Protection
• 1986 and 1990-1992: Member of the Political Affairs Committee
• 1992-1993: Member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Security and of the Sub-committee on Human Rights
• 1993-1995: French Minister for Social Affairs, Health and Cities. First woman to hold a senior ministerial post in France
• 1998-2007: Member of the Constitutional Council, France

What's in the Archives

The Fonds of the Office of Simone Veil hold over 2,700 files containing more than 19,000 items.

Papers from Simone Veil's Office during her time as President are classified by her Office's areas of activity and include the papers of her three predecessors (Cornelis Berkhouwer, Georges Spénale and Emilio Colombo). 

President Veil's documents are included in the following four series:

Public Figure

PE1 P1 100/PERS

This group of series is made up of six series on subjects relating to the President as a public figure. The largest series are those relating to sponsorships and events, media image, defence of human rights and assistance to private individuals.

Presidency of Parliament

PE1 P1 200/PRES

This group of series is made up of eight series relating to the President's political duties. The first series, 'Exercise of the presidency', refers to the President's activities during Strasbourg part-sessions and also to her relations with the Bureau and the enlarged Bureau. This series also reflects the various events and meetings that punctuated Veil's term of office, such as hearings and courtesy visits, receptions of prominent personalities and official visits. The four following series cover the President's various relations: interinstitutional (Council, Commission and other Community bodies), interparliamentary (Member States and third countries), external (Member States, third countries, international organisations, European movements, etc.), with the press, and with citizens (requests for jobs, for subsidies, appeals and activities in defence of human rights, etc.).

The next, particularly large series contains documents concerning relations with some of the European Parliament's political bodies such as the College of Quaestors, parliamentary committees and delegations, political groups, the Staff Committee and the unions. The final series relates more specifically to Simone Veil's Office, chiefly from the point of view of its organisation, functioning, and mail (filed chronologically).

Secretariat of Parliament

PE1 P1 300/SECR

This group of series presents documents relating to the administrative and legal duties of the President's Office, namely its relations with the General Secretariat, the various directorates-general and the Legal Service. The largest series covers relations with the following directorates-general: DG Committees and delegations, DG Administration, personnel and finance (in particular the 'Personal files', 'Job vacancies and filling vacant posts', 'Buildings and premises' and 'Protocol' series), and, finally, DG Research and Documentation. The last three series of this archive concern relations with the Staff Committee, the unions and the secretariat of the political groups.

Annex

Two annexed series relate firstly to the election of the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage (PE1 P1 400/ANN1) and secondly, to European integration (PE1 P1 410/ANN2).

Reflections of Former Presidents of the European Parliament: Simone Veil

In the spring of 1979 I was Minister for Health and Social Security when, a few months before the first elections to the European Parliament by universal suffrage, President Giscard d’Estaing asked me if I would be willing to head a list of candidates for this election. I accepted this honour without hesitation, having been a militant supporter of European integration since the end of the war, regarding it as the only way to set the seal on reconciliation between France and Germany and avoid a recurrence of the tragedies of the past.

After the excellent result achieved by my list, President Giscard d’Estaing, who was sensitive to symbols of reconciliation and hence aware of the significance of a former deportee, suggested to the other governments that I should be made President of the new Parliament, something that I had never imagined happening. That is how, on 17 July 1979, by an absolute majority in the second round, I came to be elected President of the new assembly.

Simone Veil, President of the European Parliament, during a plenary session in July 1980 © European Communities 1980

The task that now faced me was not without its problems. First of all, the nature of the new Members’ mandate had changed now that they were elected by universal suffrage, as opposed to the former situation in which members of the Assembly were representatives of the national parliaments. The democratic underpinning had now become more direct. In addition, Parliament’s rules of procedure turned out to be inappropriate for its new role, not least in budgetary terms.

To this was added a geographical issue. Up to then the European Assembly had usually met in Luxembourg, where most of its officials also lived. In Strasbourg, the Parliament had neither its own chamber nor any offices, and therefore had to squat for one week each month in the premises of the Council of Europe, bringing all the necessary documents with it from Luxembourg. One can imagine that this peripatetic existence was not to the liking of some of the parliamentarians, so that I had to contain a certain level of disgruntlement. It took months for this new modus operandi to become second nature. We still had to continue to hold a few sessions in Luxembourg. It was there that I remember with emotion welcoming the Egyptian President Anwar Al Sadat not long before he was assassinated.

Visit of Anwar al-Sadat, President of Egypt, to the European Parliament in Luxembourg © European Communities 1981 - European Parliament

The Members of the European Parliament, as one may imagine, wanted to assert their new authority in budgetary matters. The budget that had been drawn up for 1980 turned out to have slightly exceeded the ceiling allocated by the treaties to the European Parliament. As the point at issue was combating world hunger, I unhesitatingly declared this budget to have been duly adopted. The French Government immediately brought an action before the Court of Justice. It took some time for agreement to be reached between the Parliament, the Council and the national governments, particularly the one in Paris.

I remember the real interest that the new European Parliament aroused outside the Community in those now distant days. This interest and curiosity was all the greater because the Presidency of the Parliament had been given to a woman, which at that time was still looked upon with some disapproval. I was able to observe this when I went to Lomé for the signing of the treaties with the African, Pacific and Caribbean countries.

Visit of Chen Pixian, Secretary of the Communist Party of China, to the European Parliament in Strasbourg © European Communities 1983 - European Parliament

I remember that both inside and outside the Community I always received a warm welcome, including in the United States, Canada, China and Japan. Whenever possible I involved the Commission permanent representatives in these visits. Throughout a presidency that lasted two and a half years, I never had any difficulty in always being seen by myself and others as standing above party divisions and representing the whole of Parliament.

In short, this sometimes difficult, always fascinating presidency has remained the most rewarding period of my life. I look back on it with nostalgia, as I do on the subsequent years I spent at the European Parliament before returning to the French Government in 1993.