It’s a long-distance race that could last up to two years. The end-of-life bill arrives this Monday at the Assembly, where the special committee will conduct hearings for a month and review the text and its amendments.
The start of the legislative marathon around this major societal reform of Macron’s second five-year term will be at 6 p.m. First on the line, the Minister of Health Catherine Vautrin who, according to those around her, intends to engage in an “educational exercise”, explaining in particular “how we achieved a balance” on this highly sensitive text.
Many auditions
Will follow, among others, representatives of the medical profession on Tuesday, worship services on Wednesday, associations on Thursday, or even psychologists, philosophers, sociologists, former ministers and parliamentarians such as Alain Claeys and Jean Leonetti, authors of the last major law on the end of life. “You have to know how to listen to everyone, to all opinions. The important thing is that we can offer our colleagues a wide enough panel of actors to make an informed choice, argues commission president Agnès Firmin Le Bodo (Horizons).
From May 13, the 71 members of this commission will get to the heart of the text, dissected through its 21 articles and the amendments tabled, before the hemicycle takes up the revised project, from May 27.
At the heart of the questions is the fact of offering certain patients the means of committing suicide and, when they are incapable of carrying out the fatal gesture, of doing it for them. The conditions will be very strict: this “assisted death” will be reserved for adult patients, born in France or residing in the country for a long time, and able to clearly express their wishes. The text “excludes psychiatric illnesses”, the minister specified in particular.
Attal calls for “respect for everyone’s beliefs”
In an Assembly where the situation of relative majority has exacerbated passions, the question of the climate of debates will be central. “The deputies are aware that it will be closely watched and closely followed. You are not going to throw yourself into an arena like for a PSG-OM,” metaphorizes the Insoumise Caroline Fiat, who will be one of the four thematic co-rapporteurs of the law. Gabriel Attal also called for “the greatest respect for everyone’s convictions”.
For this intimate subject, the political groups announced that no voting instructions would be given. The left and the presidential camp should represent the majority of support for its controversial section on assisted dying in the face of the hostility which dominates on the right and the extreme right. Marine Le Pen said she hoped to “convince the deputies of the National Rally that the path chosen by the government is an easy one because it ignores the deficiencies in the field of palliative care”, which constitutes another part of the law.