13 juillet 1927
30 juin 2017
Née à Nice en 1927, Simone Veil est une figure incontournable de la vie politique française et européenne à partir du milieu des années 1970.
Pionnière, elle occupe au sein de l'administration des postes réservés jusqu'alors aux hommes. Rescapée de la Shoah, elle entame des études de droit et devient magistrate dans l'administration pénitentiaire après la Seconde guerre mondiale. Elle débute dans la politique en intégrant le cabinet de René Pleven, garde des Sceaux du gouvernement Chaban-Delmas. Elle occupe par la suite la fonction de ministre de la Santé de Valéry Giscard d'Estaing dans les gouvernements Chirac et Barre (1974-1979). Par son engagement en faveur de la contraception (1974) et de l'interruption volontaire de grossesse (loi Veil, 1975), elle acquiert une grande renommée auprès du public. Première femme assurant la présidence du Parlement de Strasbourg de 1979 à 1982, elle représente un symbole d'émancipation. Elle poursuit sa carrière au ministère des Affaires sociales, de la Santé et de la Ville avec rang de ministre d'Etat dans le gouvernement d'Edouard Balladur. Présidente du Haut conseil à l’intégration (1997-98) et du comité directeur du Fonds au profit des victimes relevant de la Cour pénale internationale (2003-2009), elle siège au Conseil constitutionnel de 1998 à 2007.
Simone Jacob est née le 13 juillet 1927 à Nice. Après Madelaine « Milou », Denise et Jean, Simone est la cadette du couple André Jacob (1891-1944), architecte et Yvonne Steinmetz. La famille Jacob est d'origine juive de Lorraine, mais non pratiquante. Malgré la Seconde Guerre mondiale et l'occupation de la France par l'Allemagne nazie, Simone passe son baccalauréat le 29 mars 1944. Le lendemain elle est arrêtée à Nice par la police allemande, conduite à l'Hôtel Excelsior, occupé alors par la Gestapo, puis elle est envoyée le 7 avril au camp de Drancy près de Paris, où elle retrouve Madeleine et sa mère. Sa sœur Denise, résistante est arrêtée et déportée à Ravensbrück, Jean et André Jacob sont déportés et assassinés en Lituanie. Ensuite, Madelaine, Yvonne et Simone sont transférées au camp de travail de Bobrek (camp du complexe d'Auschwitz-Birkenau en Pologne), où elles parviennent à rester ensemble. Avec l'arrivée des forces Américaines en Allemagne, les Nazis décident de transférer les déportés à Bergen-Belsen à la fin du mois de janvier 1945, c'est la « marche de la mort », infligée aux derniers prisonniers des camps. En mars, Yvonne Jacob meurt du typhus à Bergen-Belsen et le mois suivant le camp est libéré par les troupes britanniques. Le 23 mai 1945, Simone et Madeleine Jacob sont de retour en France où elles retrouvent Denise.
Simone Veil débute alors ses études à l'Institut d'études politiques de Paris où elle rencontre Antoine Veil. Simone Jacob et Antoine Veil se marient le 26 octobre 1946 à Paris. Le couple aura 3 garçons : Jean (1947), Nicolas (1948) et Pierre-François (1954). Tandis qu'Antoine Veil travaille dans des cabinets ministériels, Simone achève ses études à l'École nationale de la magistrature et réussit le concours en 1956. Entre 1957 et 1964, elle inspecte les établissements pénitentiaires pour le ministère de la Justice, puis en 1959, elle devient membre de la Société internationale de Criminologie comme déléguée nationale. En 1964, elle est nommée à la Direction des Affaires civiles et du Sceau, sous-direction de la Législation : à ce titre elle participe à la réforme du Code Civil pour ce qui relève du droit de la famille. En 1966, elle assume simultanément le poste de secrétaire de la Commission de Réforme de la loi de 1938 sur l'internement des malades mentaux et de secrétaire de la Commission d'études sur les problèmes relatifs à l'adoption. De plus, elle est également conseillère ministérielle de 1964 à 1969, notamment dans le cabinet de René Pleven, garde des Sceaux du gouvernement Chaban-Delmas, qu'elle intègre en 1969, comme conseiller technique chargée de suivre les affaires civiles, avant d'être nommée par le Président de la République, secrétaire du Conseil supérieur de la Magistrature en 1970. Elle est ensuite désignée comme membre des Comités d'experts du Conseil de l'Europe, par le ministre de la Justice (ces comités sont chargés de préparer les conventions européennes sur l'âge de la majorité ainsi que sur la filiation naturelle). En 1971, elle est nommée par le président de la République, Georges Pompidou, membre du Conseil d'administration de l'Office de Radio Télévision Française (ORTF).
Du 28 mai 1974 au 4 juillet 1979, elle est nommée ministre de la Santé sous la présidence de Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. Pendant son mandat elle fait adopter la loi sur l'Interruption volontaire de grossesse (IVG) le 29 novembre 1974. Cette loi rentre en vigueur le 19 janvier 1975. Peu après la fin de ses fonctions au gouvernement, elle s'engage en faveur du parlement européen. En juin 1979, elle conduit la liste UDF pour les premières élections au Parlement européen au suffrage universel direct.
Simone Veil devient la première femme présidente du Parlement européen entre juillet 1979 et janvier 1982. Elle préside également pendant deux ans, la commission juridique. Réélue en juin 1984 au Parlement européen sur la liste RPR-UDF qu'elle conduit, Simone Veil mène ensuite une campagne pour devenir présidente du Groupe libéral, démocratique et réformateur, poste qu'elle occupe de 1985 à 1989.
Durant son mandat, elle est successivement Présidente du Comité français pour l'année Européenne de l'Environnement en 1987, et du Comité Européen pour l'année européenne du cinéma et de la télévision en 1989. Fervente citoyenne de l'Europe, Simone Veil, s'engage l'année suivante dans une troisième législature au Parlement européen entre 1989 et 1993. Durant ce mandat elle s'occupe principalement de la commission européenne chargée d'une assistance financière de la crise du Golfe en 1990.
À la demande d’Édouard Balladur en avril 1993, Premier ministre sous François Mitterrand, Simone Veil est nommée ministre d'État des Affaires sociales, de la Santé et de la Ville, poste qu'elle assume deux ans, jusqu'à mai 1995. Entre 1997-1998, elle préside le Haut Conseil à l'intégration (HCI), et de 2003 à 2009, le Comité directeur du Fonds au profit des victimes relevant de la Cour pénale Internationale (CPI), tout en siégeant au Conseil constitutionnel jusqu'en 2007. La même année elle soutient Nicolas Sarkozy en vue de son élection à la Présidence de la République.
Quarante années après sa déportation en Pologne, elle retourne au camp de Birkenau en 1994, avec une délégation du Parlement européen ; elle y revient en janvier 2005, pour participer aux cérémonies du 60e anniversaire de la libération du camp d'Auschwitz par l'armée soviétique, accompagnée de sa famille, d'anciens déportés et de journalistes. Depuis 2001, Simone Veil est présidente de la Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah, dont le siège se trouve au Mémorial du Martyr juif inconnu, rue Geoffroy l'Asnier à Paris, dont elle devient Présidente d'honneur en 2007.
En parallèle de ses engagements gouvernementaux et européens, elle est membre de partis politiques : l'Union pour la démocratie française (UDF) puis en octobre 2012, l'Union des démocrates et indépendants (UDI), présidé par Jean-Louis Borloo. Par ailleurs, elle rédige son histoire personnelle dans son ouvrage autobiographiqueUne vie, publié chez Stock en 2007. Elle est élue à l'Académie française l'année suivante au fauteuil de Pierre Messmer le 20 novembre 2008.
Simone Veil est docteurhonoris causade multiples établissements universitaires dont Princeton (New Jersey, États-Unis, 1975), l’Institut Weizmann de Réhovot (Israël, 1976), l’université de Cambridge (Royaume-Uni, 1980), l’université de Georgetown à Washington (États-Unis, 1981), l’université libre de Bruxelles (1984), les universités de Yale (États-Unis, 1980), de Glasgow en Écosse (Royaume-Uni, 1995), de Pennsylvanie (États-Unis, 1997), de Montréal au Québec (Canada, 2007), de Netanya (Israël, 2008), de Bologne (Italie, 2009), Ben Gourion (Israël, 2010), de Tel Aviv (Israël, 2011), et de Meiji (Japon, 2011).
Pour ses engagements, Simone Veil a reçu de nombreux prix et distinctions honorifiques : prix Athènes de la Fondation Onassis (1980), prix Charlemagne (1981), prix de la Fondation Éléonore et Franklin Roosevelt (1984), prix Truman pour la paix (Jérusalem, 1991), médaille d’or du B’Nai Brith (Washington, 1993), médaille d’or de l’association Stresemann (Mayence, 1993), médaille d’or de la santé pour tous de l’Organisation mondiale de la santé (1997), prix Prince des Asturies et prix Grand Siècle Laurent-Perrier (2005), prix Scopus (Paris, 2007), prix Charles V (Espagne, 2008), prix franco-allemand du journalisme (Paris, 2009), prix Heinrich-Heine (Düsseldorf, 2010), prix européen des droits civiques des Sinti et Roma (Berlin, 2010), prix Schiller (Stuttgart, 2011), médaille Ambroise Paré (Paris, 2012), médaille d’honneur de la Santé et des Affaires sociales (Paris, 2012). Simone Veil a également été distinguée par la grand'croix de la Légion d'honneur en juillet 2012, dont les insignes lui ont été remis au palais de l'Élysée par le Président de la République François Hollande deux mois après.
Après le décès de Denise Vernay (née Jacob), sa sœur, ancienne résistante, en mars 2013 à 88 ans, puis de son époux, Antoine Veil, en avril 2013, Simone Veil décide de se retirer de toute activité publique et interrompt sa carrière politique. Durant de nombreuses années, des enquêtes d'opinions indiquent régulièrement qu'elle figure toujours parmi les personnalités les plus populaires aux cœurs des Français.
Simone Veil décède à son domicile parisien le 30 juin 2017 à l'âge de 89 ans.
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