Simone Veil, former French minister of state and first president (1979) of the European Parliament, will be in Bulgaria from November 23 to 25 2008, the French embassy announced on November 20.

While in Sofia, Veil, who is also honorary president of the Fondation pour la Mémoire de la Shoah, which supports history and research projects on the Holocaust, education and transmission, memory, solidarity and Jewish culture, will present the Bulgarian translation of her 2007 autobiography Une vie (A Life) at Sofia University's theatre hall at 6pm.

On November 25 at 9.15am, she will be conferred with the title of Docteur Honoris Causa in the university's Aula Magna hall.

On November 20 2008, Veil was elected to the Académie française, making her the sixth female to be named a member in the institution's more than 400 years of existence.