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Simone Veil: A Europeanist Committed to the Defence of Human Rights

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The European Union and its Political Leaders

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Abstract

“With her feline beauty and beautiful sky-blue eyes, she was accompanied by a strong character (…) feared by her collaborators”. This is how Enrique Barón Crespo described his predecessor as President of the European Parliament, Simone Veil, on the occasion of her death on 30 June 2017. This is not the only testimony we have in this regard, many of those who knew her highlight her strong personality and resilience, which she showed both in her personal life and in her public facet, in which she developed an intense and interesting political career. It is precisely this latter dimension that we are going to refer to in this study, without being able to ignore, however, how her public career was permanently marked by her condition as a Holocaust survivor, having passed through the camps of Auschwitz and later Bergen-Belsen.

Despite a difficult destiny, I am, and remain, an optimist.

Life has taught me that, in time, progress always wins.

It is long, it is slow, but, in the end, I trust in it.

Simone Veil

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Barón Crespo, Enrique. “Simone Veil, la dignidad de Europa”. El País, 30, junio, 2017. Retrieved May 20, 2021, from https://elpais.com/internacional/2017/06/30/actualidad/1498830652_114839.html

  2. 2.

    To the account of the memories of her experience in the concentration camps, Simone Veil dedicates Chapter III of her Memoirs, “El infierno”. Veil, Simone. Una vida. Madrid: Clave intelectual, 2011, pp. 43–70.

  3. 3.

    Faced with her husband’s refusal to start a professional life, Veil recalled her mother’s words when she pointed out that “you not only have to work, but you also have to have a real job”. Veil, Simone. Una vida… Op. Cit., p. 29; p. 87.

  4. 4.

    Ibid., pp.87–88.

  5. 5.

    S/A. “Humilladas e independientes. Obstáculos de todo tipo dificultan el acceso de la mujer al poder”. Sección “Mujeres y poder”, Suplemento Temas de nuestra época, El País, 4, marzo, 1993, p. 5.

  6. 6.

    Veil, Simone. Una vida… Op. Cit., pp. 94–100.

  7. 7.

    However, Veil was the only woman appointed minister, the rest of her colleagues held only Secretaries of State such as Annie Lesur in Education, Hélène Dorlac in Justice and Françoise Giroud in Female condition. Ibídem, p. 125.

  8. 8.

    The French women came to the government in 1936 during the first government of Léon Blum when they still did not enjoy the right to vote. At that time, three women served as Undersecretaries of State Cécile Brunschvicg, Suzanne Lacore and Irène Joliot-Curie. Again, three other women were part of the Government during the French Fourth Republic, 1946–1958, including Germaine Poinso-Chapuis, French Prime Minister who held the Health portfolio for nine months, between 1947 and 1948, in the first government of Robert Schuman. Bard, Christine. “Les premières femmes au Gouvernement (France, 1936–1981)”. Histoire@Politique – Politique, culture, société, 1, 2007, pp. 2–26.

  9. 9.

    Giscard d’Estaing, Valèry. “Las mujeres en la vida pública”. En Giscard d’Estaing, Valèry. El poder y la vida. Madrid: Ediciones El País/Aguilar, 1988, pp. 211 ss.

  10. 10.

    S/A. “Humilladas e independientes… Op. Cit., p. 5.

  11. 11.

    The rest of its activities such as the recognition of basic rights and the provision of resources to the disabled, or the launch of the first anti-smoking campaign in France were overshadowed by the notoriety achieved by the Interruption Volontaire de Grossesse, IVG. Veil, Simone. Una vida… Op. Cit., pp. 143, 145.

  12. 12.

    Alberdi, Inés. “El destino y la libertad. Notas sobre la interrupción del embarazo en las sociedades occidentales”. Reis, 21, 1983, p. 137.

  13. 13.

    “Manifeste des 343 salopes”. Nouvel Observateur, 334, 5, April, 1971. Retrieved May 30, 2021, from https://www.nouvelobs.com/societe/20071127.OBS7018/le-manifeste-des-343-salopes-paru-dans-le-nouvel-obs-en-1971.html

  14. 14.

    In which a pregnant minor was tried as a result of a rape who had resorted to a clandestine abortion. The defence lawyer in the case, Gisele Halimi, had founded, together with Simone de Beauvoir, the Choisir movement, which defended the control of women over their own body and the legalization of abortion. Angeloff, Tania; Maruani, Margaret. “Gisèle Halimi. La cause du féminisme”. Entrevista a Gisèle Halimi. Travail, genre et sociétés, 14, 2005, 5–25.

  15. 15.

    Veil, Simone. “Presentación ante la Asamblea francesa de la Ley de Interrupción del embarazo”. Retrieved May 25, 2021, from https://www.nouvelobs.com/politique/20170630.OBS1430/verbatim-l-integralite-du-discours-de-simone-veil-du-26-novembre-1974-sur-l-ivg.html. Veil, Simone. “Discurso pronunciado el 26 de noviembre de 1974 en la Asamblea Nacional”, en Veil, Simone. Una vida… Op. Cit., pp. 237–253.

  16. 16.

    Pérez Díaz, Julio. “Simone Veil y despenalización del aborto”. Apuntes de demografía, 26, julio, 2018. Retrieved May 30, 2021, from https://apuntesdedemografia.com/2018/07/26/simone-veil/

  17. 17.

    Veil, Simone. Una vida… Op. Cit., p. 133.

  18. 18.

    Veil, Simone. “Presentación ante la Asamblea francesa de la Ley de Interrupción del embarazo”. Op. Cit.

  19. 19.

    In this sense, from his own Ministry he promised to present several projects related to reinforcing the action of family helpers, as well as to improve the operating conditions and financing of maternity centers, where young mothers with difficulties were welcomed.

  20. 20.

    Veil, Simone. “Presentación ante la Asamblea francesa de la Ley de Interrupción del embarazo”. Op. Cit.

  21. 21.

    Alberdi, Inés. Op. Cit., pp. 137–139.

  22. 22.

    S/A. “Humilladas e independientes… Op. Cit., p. 5.

  23. 23.

    Veil, Simone. Una vida… Op. Cit., p. 138.

  24. 24.

    The President acknowledges that he did not follow the parliamentary debate on the Law because “it was not one of his functions”, and affirmed that what most caught his attention was the image captured by the media of a Simone Veil, “in a dress of Chanel”, crying at the end of one of the debate sessions. Note the inappropriateness of the comment and the description. Giscard d’Estaing, Valèry. Op. Cit., p. 212.

  25. 25.

    Loi n°. 75–17 du 17 janvier 1975 relative à l’interruption volontaire de la grossesse. Retrieved May 25, 2021, from https://web.archive.org/web/20090422163914/http://doc-iep.univlyon2.fr/Ressources/Documents/DocEnLigne/LoiVeil/loi-veil.html

  26. 26.

    Alberdi, Inés. Op. Cit., pp. 137–139.

  27. 27.

    Llaudes Cañete, Salvador. “Una visión desde las fuentes francesas del papel de Francia en las negociaciones para el ingreso de España en las Comunidades Europeas: 1975–1986”. Revista Historia Autónoma, 3, 2013, pp. 143–155.

  28. 28.

    Varsori, Antonio. “Atlantismo y europeísmo”. Ayer, 77, 2010, pp. 145–174.

  29. 29.

    Fernández de Landa Montoya, María José. El control interinstitucional en la Unión Europeo. Vitoria/Gasteiz: ARARTEKO, 1996, p. 49.

  30. 30.

    Veil, Simone. Discurso al recibir el Premio Europeo Carlos V. Retrieved May 25, 2021, from https://www.fundacionyuste.org/project/simone-veil/. She had no qualms about living in Germany between 1950 and 1953, when her husband was posted to the consulate in Wiesbaden, the capital of the State of Hesse. Veil, Simone. Una vida… Op. Cit., p. 84.

  31. 31.

    Garrigues, Jean. Interview a Simone Veil. “La grande aventure, c’est d’avoir su faire l’Europe”. Parlamento [s], Revue d’histoire politique, 1, 2004, 6–15.

  32. 32.

    Denéchère, Yves. “Deux Françaises à deux moments-clé de l’histoire européenne: Simone Veil en 1979, Catherine Lalumière en 1989”. Mediterran Tanulmanyok (Etudes méditerranéennes), XVII, 2008, pp. 105–114.

  33. 33.

    Veil, Simone. Discurso de toma de posesión como Presidenta del Parlamento Europeo. EPRS-Historical-Archives. Debates of the European Parliament. Sitting of wednesday, 18 july 1979, pp. 20–24.

  34. 34.

    Santos, Mª. Teresa. “Veil, Simone”. En Baltazar, Isabel; Cunha, Alice; Lousada, Isabel; Dicionário As Mulheres e a Unidade Europeia. Lisboa: Assembleia da República, 2021, pp. 395–399.

  35. 35.

    Ibid.

  36. 36.

    It should not be forgotten that Louse Weiss had these two characteristics with which Simone Veil also identified. Although Louise Weiss fought for the vote of the French women and their emancipation, between 1918 and 1934 she published the magazine L’Europe Nouvelle. Dossier Louise Weiss Centre de ressources et d’ingénierie documentaires—Mai 201. Retrieved May 25, 2021, from https://www.ena.fr›DOSSIER LOUISE WEISS

  37. 37.

    Values and principles on which he also insisted in the speech delivered at the University Institute of Florence in November 1980. Veil, Simone. La communaute et l’identite europeenne. Retrieved June 7, 2021, from https://www.europarl.europa.eu/100books/en/detail/96/la-communaute-et-l-identite-europeenne

  38. 38.

    Veil, Simone. Discurso de toma de posesión como Presidenta del Parlamento Europeo. Op. Cit.

  39. 39.

    Veil, Simone. La communaute et l’identite europeenne…Op. Cit.

  40. 40.

    Denéchère, Yves, “La contribution des Françaises à l’idée d’Europe et à la construction européenne au XXe siècle”. Parlamento [s], Revue d’histoire politique, 2007, 3, 73–85.

  41. 41.

    Santos, Mª. Teresa. “Veil, Simone”. Op. Cit., pp. 395–399.

  42. 42.

    Simone Veil herself recognized the enormous difficulty of parliamentary management during the first months of her presidency until the new text was ready. Garrigues, Jean. Op. Cit., pp. 6–15.

  43. 43.

    Alain Souloumiac, “La Presidencia de la Asamblea Europea”, Revue de Droit Public, 5, 1980, p. 1320.

  44. 44.

    Veil, Simone. Una vida… Op. Cit., pp. 153–154.

  45. 45.

    Garrigues, Jean. Op. Cit., pp. 6–15.

  46. 46.

    Élisa Gfeller, Aurélie. “Réinventer l’institution parlementaire européenne Simone Veil et les premiers élus au suffrage universel direct”. Cultures & Conflits, 85–86, 2012, pp. 80–98.

  47. 47.

    Denéchère, Yves. Op. cit., 73–85.

  48. 48.

    González Castillo, Javier. Geoestrategia, diplomacia y boicot: los juegos olímpicos en el contexto internacional (1948–1980). Madrid: Comisión Española de Historia de las Relaciones Internacionales, 2018, pp. 82–90.

  49. 49.

    Denéchère, Yves. Op. cit., 73–85.

  50. 50.

    Souloumiac, Alain. “La présidence de L’Assemblée européene depuis I’élection au sufrage universel direct des députes de la Communauté européene”. Revue de Droit Public, 5, 1980, pp. 13–20.

  51. 51.

    Élisa Gfeller, Aurélie. Op. cit., pp. 80–98.

  52. 52.

    Ibid.

  53. 53.

    Veil, Simone. Discurso al recibir el Premio Europeo Carlos V. Op. Cit.

  54. 54.

    Ibid.

  55. 55.

    Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM). Retrieved May 28, 2021, from https://www.europarl.europa.eu/workingpapers/femm/105/text_en.htm

  56. 56.

    Fontaine, Nicole. Discurso de la toma de posesión como Presidenta del Parlamento Europeo, 21 de julio de 1999. Retrieved May 25, 2021, from https://www.europarl.europa.eu/former_ep_presidents/president-fontaine/speeches/es/sp0001.htm

  57. 57.

    Sineau, Mariette. “Las mujeres en la ciudad: derecho s de las mujeres y democracia” En Duby, Georges; Perrot, Michelle. Historia de las mujeres en occidente. El S. XX. Vol. 5. Madrid: Taurus, 1991, pp. 587 ss.

  58. 58.

    S/A. “Humilladas e independientes… Op. Cit., p. 5.

  59. 59.

    An updated balance of the European construction process can be consulted at Pérez Sánchez, Guillermo (Dir). La Unión Europea al cumplirse los 70 años de la Declaración Schuman. 1950–2020. Valladolid: Ediciones Universidad, 2020.

  60. 60.

    Élisa Gfeller, Aurélie. Op. cit., pp. 80–98.

  61. 61.

    She was the second woman to hold a seat in the masculinized institution, after the appointment of Noëller Lenoir. Veil, Simone. Una vida… Op. Cit., p. 205.

  62. 62.

    Veil, Simone. Una vida… Op. Cit., p. 165.

  63. 63.

    Ibid. Op. Cit., pp. 64–65.

  64. 64.

    In 1981, she was awarded the Charlemagne Prize, which recognizes a person’s contribution to European unity. In December of the same year, she received the Louise Weiss award, “for her tireless action in favor of Europe and peace”, becoming the first woman to obtain this distinction. In 2005, she was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation. In 2008, she became the first woman to receive the “Carlos V European Award”. That same year she was elected a member of the Académie Française, one of the few women distinguished with this honor. In 2011, the esplanade in front of the main building of the European Parliament in Brussels was renamed “Agora Simone Veil”. In 2012, he was awarded the Grand Cross of the French Legion of Honor and he was awarded at least fourteen Honoris Causa Doctorates by different Universities around the world, among other recognitions. “Simone Veil: superviviente del Holocausto y primera mujer que preside el Parlamento Europeo (1927–2017)”. Retrieved June 12, 2021, from https://europa.eu/european-union/sites/default/files/eu-pioneers/eu-pioneers-simone-veil_es.pdf

  65. 65.

    His predecessors in the Pantheon are the scientist Marie Curie, the ethnologist and resistant to the Nazis Germaine Tillion, the resistant Geneviève de Gaulle-Anthonioz and Sophie Barthelot, who entered as the scientist’s spouse. Marcellin Barthelot. Bassets, Marc. “Simone Veil, superviviente de Auschwitz, feminista y europeísta, ingresa en el Panteón”. El País, 1 de julio de 2018. Retrieved June 15, 2021, from https://elpais.com/internacional/2018/07/01/actualidad/1530435141_608461.html

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  1. University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain

    María de la Paz Pando Ballesteros

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Correspondence to María de la Paz Pando Ballesteros .

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  1. Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia

    David Ramiro Troitiño

  2. Contemporary History, University of Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain

    Ricardo Martín de la Guardia

  3. Contemporary History, University of Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain

    Guillermo A. Pérez Sánchez

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de la Paz Pando Ballesteros, M. (2022). Simone Veil: A Europeanist Committed to the Defence of Human Rights. In: Ramiro Troitiño, D., Martín de la Guardia, R., Pérez Sánchez, G.A. (eds) The European Union and its Political Leaders. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96662-1_22

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