Portrait Exhibition “Inspirational Women in EU Institutions”

Holocaust survivor, lawyer, politician and feminist, Simone Veil served as France’s Health Minister and was the first female President of the European Parliament. As a survivor of Nazi concentration camps, Simone Veil sowed the seeds of her commitment to a unified Europe, a cause she would champion for the rest of her life.

Staunchly pro-Europe, Lindh rose to wider prominence during Sweden’s presidency of the European Union in 2001 when her diplomacy help to avert war in the then former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Elected to the European Parliament in 1979 at the age of 86, Weiss made the inaugural speech at its opening session. She dedicated her life to the pursuit of peace, first through her work on several newspapers and then in her dedication to the cause of female suffrage.

Marga Klompé was a scientist and teacher who was active in the Dutch resistance during the Second World War. She was one of the negotiators of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration on Human Rights and Netherlands’ first female government minister. One of her achievements was the country’s first law on universal social protection.

Leonilde ‘Nilde’ Iotti was a member of the committee that drafted the core of Italy’s new constitution in 1946 and its longest serving president. A committed European, Iotti became a member of the European Parliament in 1969, serving until 1979, and was elected vice president of the Council of Europe in 1997.

The Greek actor and politician Melina Mercouri fought the fascist junta that took control of Greece in 1967 and campaigned for the protection and promotion of culture as a politician. She contributed to the creation of the European Capital of Culture initiative.

The European Parliament’s second female President oversaw the adoption of the euro. Nicole Fontaine set about reforming the European Parliament’s working methods to bring it closer to European citizens. She argued for an ‘ambitious approach aimed at providing the Union with a charter of fundamental rights’.

In 1941, Hirschman co-authored the Ventotene Manifesto ‘for a free and united Europe’, widely regarded as the starting point for European federalism. The Manifesto was a blueprint for a democratic European Union that could be created after the war. In 1975, Hirschmann founded the Association Femmes pour l’Europe in Brussels.

Federica has been a strong advocate for the involvement of women in peace and security negotiations. One of Mogherini’s most notable achievements as the EU High Representative was her pivotal role in negotiating the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), commonly known as the Iran Nuclear Deal.

As President of the European Commission since 2019, Ursula von der Leyen from Germany announced multilateralism and rules based order are priorities of the European Union and highly promotes gender equality as well as diversity.

French politician and lawyer Christine Lagarde has become the first female French finance minister, the first female head of the IMF and since 2019 the first-ever female president of the European Central Bank.

Roberta Metsola was elected as President of the European Parliament in January 2022. One of her priorities is to make people recapture a sense of belief and enthusiasm for the European project. She co-authored the Parliament's own-initiative report on the need to protect journalists in the European Union.