Simone Veil: witness, fighter for women’s rights, convinced European
Ms Veil was born in 1927 to a Jewish family in Nice, France. With her family, she was arrested by the Nazis in 1944 and sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau, then Bobrek and finally Bergen-Belsen. Her parents and brother died in the concentration comps. She became France’s Minister of Health in 1974 and is most famous for leading the legalisation of abortion in 1975. Between1979-1982 she presided over the first directly-elected European Parliament and remained an MEP until 1993, when she returned to French politics. Ms Veil was elected to the “Académie Française” in 2008 and remains enormously popular in France.Programme
- 1200: European Anthem
- 1205-1235: speeches (Jerzy Buzek, Polish PM Donald Tusk, Lech Wa??sa, former Dutch PM Wim Kok, former EP President Hans-Gert Pöttering, French minister Jean Leonetti, Commission President José Manuel Barroso, Belgian PM Yves Leterme)
- 1235: unveiling of plaques
- 1245-1310: video clips, folk dance, songs
- 2000: rock concert by Polish band Myslovitz