Arthur de Laborde with AFP / Photo credits: GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT / AFP
The National Assembly begins examining the end-of-life bill in plenary session on Monday. The text adopted by the special committee is very far from the initial copy defended by Emmanuel Macron. Access to “assisted dying” has been considerably expanded: vital prognosis, collegiality, consent, withdrawal period, etc. The safeguards defined by the Head of State have all been removed. However, Emmanuel Macron intends to regain control during the parliamentary discussion.
Debates around eligibility criteria
Weighing each word, Emmanuel Macron hesitated for a long time before launching the end-of-life bill. Two and a half months later, the President lost control of his text. His entourage suggests it: the head of state is uncomfortable with the new version. “He is attached to the line he has defined,” warns one of his followers. “The initial course was satisfactory but it is no longer there”, alarms a minister before specifying that the government is working to put in place safeguards.
The initial text required one to be suffering from a “serious and incurable condition that threatens their vital prognosis in the short or medium term”, to be of legal age, capable of expressing one’s will in a free and informed manner and to present suffering that would be refractory to treatment. or unbearable. But in the special committee, the deputies deleted the mention of “vital prognosis engaged in the short or medium term”, preferring the notion of affection “in the advanced or terminal phase”.
A change approved by the Association for the Right to Die with Dignity (ADMD) and the general rapporteur Olivier Falorni (MoDem group), for whom the notion of medium term “was inoperative”. It “risked leaving aside a certain number of patients, particularly those suffering from neurodegenerative diseases”, argued this historic defender of assisted dying in Opinion.
The government would seek to return to the initial version
Attached to the “balance” of the initial text, Catherine Vautrin warned in Le Figaro that the government would seek to return to the initial version. “We will have to be skillful in the parliamentary game”, underlines a Macronist strategist, because on this subject linked to the intimate, everyone will be free to vote, and the left wing of the majority is keen on “assisted death” expanded to send a progressive signal. The idea is not to rush anyone and to take your time to build a consensus while the final vote should not take place before 2026, explains an advisor to the executive. “The road is long, but clearly we need balance,” summarizes someone close to Emmanuel Macron.