A woman of conviction and courage, Simone Veil has spent her entire life fighting for progress.
A survivor of the Nazi concentration camps, her first and permanent struggle will be against forgetting: she will never cease to make her testimony heard, with strength and dignity, for the memory of the victims, against forgetting the horror of the concentration camp.
As Minister of Health, she led a historic fight for the emancipation of women: committing herself against public opinion, facing threats, she had the legalization of abortion in 1974.
It will also have a decisive commitment in the fight for Europe. She will remain one of the great artisans of its construction, in particular at the head of the European Parliament, of which she is the first woman to be elected President.
Simone Veil has carried the progressive fight to the end, in all her responsibilities: to the Constitutional Council; to major European foundations for freedom of expression, for science and culture; and to the French Academy, of which she became a member in 2010.
We were honoured to be the contemporaries of this exceptional woman. Let us honour her memory by prolonging the many battles she has fought – for peace, women, Europe, culture and freedom.
My thoughts are with his family and loved ones.