“Parliament has priority”
Buschmann: Clarify euthanasia during this election period
March 29, 2024, 2:57 p.m
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Legal regulation of euthanasia has been discussed for a long time and is ethically sensitive. Two bills failed last year. Federal Justice Minister Buschmann is in favor of another timely attempt. But the solution has to be “good”.
Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann is calling for a new attempt at legal regulation of euthanasia during this election period. “I think it would be good if there was a result in this legislative period,” said the FDP politician to the Germany editorial network. “But what’s more important is that the solution is a good one, because it’s about one of the highest legal interests, namely human life.”
In mid-2023, two drafts for a legal framework with conditions and requirements for euthanasia did not receive a majority in the Bundestag. The background to the initiatives from the Bundestag was a ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court, which overturned a ban on commercial euthanasia in the 2020 Criminal Code because it violated the right to self-determined death. Business-wise has nothing to do with money, but is intended to be repeated. In October 2023, a cross-party group in the Bundestag took up the issue of euthanasia again.
Buschmann now said that there needs to be a sufficiently clear legal regulation that provides legal certainty for everyone involved. However, it is a good tradition “for the federal government to hold back on such complex questions of medical ethics and to allow parliament to take the lead.” “As a member of parliament, I think that the Federal Constitutional Court rightly emphasized that a person must have the right to decide for themselves how to end their life.” At the same time, it must be prevented that people make decisions hastily and that pressure can be exerted on them. “Older people, those who are sick or those in need of other care should not think about euthanasia because they feel it is an imposition on their fellow human beings or because they are given this impression.”