Making News: International Edition

From Claude de Renty du Granrut MHGS:
On May 27, I was named a Grand Officer of the Merit Order, one of the highest awards in France, at a May 27 ceremony at the Elysée Palace in Paris. President Sarkozy officiated. We were ten recipients; six men and four women. Three of us had been active in the French résistance. Two were heads of high schools; one was CEO of a public works company. There were also a scientist, a very successful racing car driver, the curator of the Picasso Paris Museum, and a high civil servant.

As Grand Officer of the Merit Order, I was one of highest recipients. The ceremony was held in the official reception room of the Palace. Each of us could invite around 50 people (family and close friends – most the members of government were attending). As for myself, I had invited three of them: Eric Woerth, Budget; Michel Barnier, Agriculture and former European Commissioner; and Jean-Marie Bockel, War Veterans; some of the women who were with my mother and Simone Veil in the Ravensbruck Camp; members of the French Academy; old friends like Nicole Dassault, and, of course, my family.

President Sarkozy spoke in praise of each of us before investing each of us with the insignias of our honor. As for myself, after relating my curriculum vitae, he said: “You have a fighting spirit and you never give up. You fought for your country, for your exams, for women’s rights, for regional development, for the European Union. You have had a career devoted to your fellow citizens and public service and you managed to raise a large family.”

As for my accomplishments, I have served Senlis as a deputy mayor for 31 years. My latest accomplishment was to restore its historical monuments, especially the 13th-century portal of the Cathedral. As a Regional Picardie counselor I was in charge of urban and rural development through a new administrative organization of road and railway infrastructures and of economic and education regional planning. I also created the Natural Regional Park of Picardie.

In the Committee of the Regions of the European Union my recent activities have been to participate in the Convention for a new Treaty reinforcing the solidarity objectives of the Union’s 27 members, giving new competences to the Committee for the control of the implementation of the subsidiary principle, and to replace the unanimous vote in the ministers’ council by a qualified majority voting system.

I was also involved in the Communication policy of the Union and as I will not be candidate for a new mandate in January 2010. I was asked by my colleagues to write down what I think are the Committee priorities for the next mandate. It shows great confidence and it means a great responsibility. I am presently working on it and it should be voted during the November session.

Since 2006, I have been President of the Society of the Children of Women Ravensbruck Internees, SFAADIR. Our purpose is to perpetuate their memories and to participate in the fitting of the museum of Ravensbruck.