Studies

• Bachelor of English Language, Paul Valéry University, Montpellier III
• Master of American Literature, Paul Valéry University, Montpellier III
• Master of Political Science, Institut d'études politiques d'Aix-en-Provence
• 2 years university degree in Economy (DEUG), Aix-Marseille University
• Alumna of the École nationale d'administration (ENA), Promotion Simone Weil (1974).

Member of the European Parliament, 1994–1997

Guigou was elected to the European Parliament in the 1994 elections. Throughout her time in parliament, she served as vice-chairwoman of the Committee on Institutional Affairs. During 1994–1995 she was member of the Tindemans group. Together with Elmar Brok, she represented the European Parliament in the negotiations that produced the Amsterdam Treaty.

Member of the Jospin government, 1997–2002

In 1997, Guigou was elected to the National Assembly in the Vaucluse département and entered incoming Prime Minister Lionel Jospin's cabinet, as Minister of Justice (1997–2000) and then as Minister of Employment (2000–2002).

During her time in office, Guigou co-sponsored several bills that became law. She co-sponsored a 1998 law which abrogated the requirement of "manifestation of will" for children born in France of foreign parents to gain citizenship.^[2] Also in the late 1990s, she took action to grant investigating magistrates more independence; at the same time, she gave the Justice Ministry the ability to intervene.^[3]

Guigou also co-sponsored a 2000 law which articulated the French policy on presumption of innocence in media by prohibiting magazines and newspapers from publishing photographs of accused individuals wearing handcuffs or other scenes which may "jeopardise a victim's dignity".^[4] It forbids the publication of photographs of survivors of violent crimes, including terrorist attacks, without their permission.^[5] The law, which was unanimously supported by the Senate and later became known as the Guigou law,^[6] was openly opposed by leading publications such as Paris Match, which ignores the law.

In 2001, in response to announcements of layoffs ahead of the 2002 presidential elections, Guigou and Jospin developed a proposal that required large employers planning layoffs to double severance-pay packages and provide at least six months' job retraining to laid-off workers.^[7]

Member of the National Assembly, 2002–2017

Guigou failed to be elected Mayor of Avignon and, facing possible defeat against Marie-Josée Roig in her district, was nominated as a candidate for the National Assembly in 2002 in the heavily left-wing département of Seine-Saint-Denis. She was re-elected in 2007.

Guigou campaigned for the Yes side in the referendum on the 2005 Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe.

From 2010 until 2011, Guigou served as vice-president of the National Assembly. In 2011, she was a supporter of Socialist Party leader Martine Aubry's presidential bid. However, she later helped Aubry's competitor François Hollande to prepare to re-negotiate European fiscal rules.^[8]

From 2012 until 2017, Guigou served as chairwoman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs since 2012. She was also a member of the Committee on European Affairs and the Working Group on the Prevention of Conflicts of Interest. In addition to her committee assignments, she served as vice-chairwoman of the French-Moroccan Parliamentary Friendship Group.

Ahead of the Socialist Party's 2012 convention in Toulouse, Guigou publicly endorsed Harlem Désir as candidate to succeed Martine Aubry at the party's leadership.^[9]

In 2013, Guigou represented France for the funeral of Margaret Thatcher.^[10]

Shortly after the referendum on the status of Crimea held on 16 March 2014, Guigou and her counterparts of the Weimar Triangle parliaments – Norbert Röttgen of Germany and Grzegorz Schetyna of Poland – visited Kyiv to express their countries' firm support of the territorial integrity and the European integration of Ukraine.^[11] This was the first time that parliamentarians of the Weimar Triangle had ever made a joint trip to a third country.^[12]

Following the 2014 European elections, Guigou confirmed her interest in succeeding Michel Barnier as France's member of the European Commission, thereby challenging Pierre Moscovici.^[13]

From 2015, Guigou served as a member of the European Commission's High-level Group of Personalities on Defence Research chaired by Elżbieta Bieńkowska.^[14]