Editing Simone Veil (section)

{{Short description|French politician (1927–2017)}}
{{Distinguish|text=[[Simone Weil]], a French philosopher}}
{{Expand French|topic=bio|date=June 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Simone Veil
| image               = Official portrait of Simone Veil (cropped).jpg
| caption             = Veil in 1982
| office              = Member of the [[Constitutional Council (France)|Constitutional Council]]
| term_start          = 3 March 1998
| term_end            = 3 March 2007
| appointer           = [[René Monory]]
| president           = {{ubl|[[Roland Dumas]]|[[Yves Guéna]]|[[Pierre Mazeaud]]}}
| predecessor         = Jean Cabannes
| successor           = [[Renaud Denoix de Saint Marc]]
| office1             = [[Minister of Health (France)|Minister for Social Affairs, Health and Urban&nbsp;Issues]]
| president1          = [[François Mitterrand]]
| primeminister1      = [[Édouard Balladur]]
| deputy1             = [[Philippe Douste-Blazy]]
| term_start1         = 30 March 1993
| term_end1           = 11 May 1995
| predecessor1        = [[Bernard Kouchner]]
| successor1          = [[Élisabeth Hubert]]
| office2             = President of the European Parliament
| order2              = 13th
| term_start2         = 17 July 1979
| term_end2           = 18 January 1982
| predecessor2        = [[Emilio Colombo]]
| successor2          = [[Piet Dankert]]
| parliament3         = European
| constituency_MP3    = [[France (European Parliament constituency)|France]]
| term_start3         = 17 July 1979
| term_end3           = 30 March 1993
| predecessor3        = ''Constituency established''
| successor3          = [[Jean-Marie Vanlerenberghe]]
| office4             = Minister of Health
| president4          = [[Valéry Giscard d'Estaing]]
| primeminister4      = {{ubl|[[Jacques Chirac]]|[[Raymond Barre]]}}
| term_start4         = 28 May 1974
| term_end4           = 4 July 1979
| predecessor4        = [[Michel Poniatowski]]
| successor4          = [[Jacques Barrot]]
| birth_name          = Simone Annie Jacob
| birth_date          = {{birth date|df=y|1927|07|13}}
| birth_place         = [[Nice]], France
| death_date          = {{death date and age|2017|06|30|1927|07|13|df=y}}
| death_place         = Paris, France
| resting_place       = [[Panthéon]]
| party               = {{ubl|[[Union for French Democracy|UDF]] (1979,<ref name="Sauvard 2012 p. 204">{{cite book | last=Sauvard | first=J. | title=Simone Veil - La force de la conviction | publisher=L'Archipel | year=2012 | isbn=978-2-8098-0682-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-TTLDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT204 | language=fr| page=204}}</ref> 1984, 1995–1997)<ref name="BFMTV 2017">{{cite web | title=Le parcours de Simone Veil auprès des Présidents, de Giscard à Sarkozy | website=BFMTV | date=30 June 2017 | url=https://www.bfmtv.com/politique/le-parcours-de-simone-veil-aupres-des-presidents-de-giscard-a-sarkozy_AN-201706300072.html | language=fr}}</ref><!--|Union pour la France en Europe (UFE) !1984)-->|[[Union of Democrats and Independents|UDI]] (2012–2017)|[[European Liberal Democratic and Reform Party]] (in the European Parliament)}}
| spouse              = {{marriage|[[Antoine Veil]]|1946|2013|end=d.}}
| children            = 3
| alma_mater          = {{ubl|[[Faculty of Law of Paris]]|[[University of Paris]]|[[Sciences Po]]<br/>[[French National School for the Judiciary|ENM]]}}
}}
'''Simone Veil''' ({{IPA|fr|simɔn vɛj|lang|Fr-Simone Veil.ogg}}; {{Nee|'''Jacob'''}}; 13 July 1927 – 30 June 2017) was a French [[magistrate]], [[Holocaust survivor]], and politician who served as [[Minister of Health (France)|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 in France|abortion]], today known as the ''[[Veil Act]]'' ({{Langx|fr|link=no|Loi Veil}}). From 1998 to 2007, she was a member of the [[Constitutional Council (France)|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 [[Order of the British Empire|honorary dame]] in 1998, was elected to the [[Académie Française]] in 2008, and in 2012 received the grand cross of the [[Legion of Honour|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]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/simone-veil-will-become-fifth-woman-buried-pantheon-180963947/|title=France's Simone Veil Will Become the Fifth Woman Buried in the Panthéon|last=Katz|first=Brigit|work=Smithsonian|access-date=1 July 2018|language=en}}</ref>