Editing Simone Veil (section)

===Member of the Constitutional Council, 1998===
In 1998, she was appointed to the [[Constitutional Council of France]]. In 2005, she put herself briefly on leave from the council in order to campaign in favour of the [[Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe]]. This action was criticized because it seemed to contradict the legal provisions that members of the council should keep a distance from partisan politics: the independence and impartiality of the council would be jeopardized, critics said, if members could put themselves "on leave" in order to campaign for a project.<ref name="lci.tf1.fr">{{cite news|title=Référendum : Simone Veil répond à Debré|url=http://lci.tf1.fr/france/2005-05/referendum-simone-veil-repond-debre-4860219.html?xtmc=simone%20veil%20debr%C3%A9&xtcr=6|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714150838/http://lci.tf1.fr/france/2005-05/referendum-simone-veil-repond-debre-4860219.html?xtmc=simone%20veil%20debr%C3%A9&xtcr=6|url-status=dead|archive-date=14 July 2014|newspaper=My TF1 News|access-date=30 January 2017|language=fr}}</ref> In response, Veil said that she, the president of the [[Constitutional Council of France|Constitutional Council]] and colleagues had deliberated on the issue beforehand and they had given her permission to take her leave without having to resign. Being a staunch supporter of the European project, she believed others should not "ignore the historical dimension of [[European integration]]".<ref name="lci.tf1.fr"/>