Stoppage, even coup de grace. The dissolution of the National Assembly, decided by the Head of State, Sunday June 9, abruptly interrupted the examination, at the Palais-Bourbon, of the bill relating to the support of the sick and the end of life . “With this text, we look death in the face”Emmanuel Macron declared on March 10 about this societal reform, which had been preceded by a “national debate” since September 2022 and a citizens’ convention in 2023.
Started on May 27 by the deputies, the examination of the text was to continue until June 14, before a solemn vote on June 18. Fifteen articles out of twenty-one remained to be examined. But the most decisive ones had been voted on: article 5, which establishes access to a “assisted dying”and article 6, which sets out the conditions for the administration of a lethal substance for patients “suffering from a serious and incurable condition with a life-threatening prognosis in the advanced or terminal phase”.
The end of the legislature recorded by the dissolution made the already adopted part of the text obsolete. In the majority, regrets did not fail to be expressed. “The text on the end of life, everything we have done until now as a parliamentary path is destroyedsaid Yaël Braun-Pivet, now former president of the National Assembly, on Monday. All the debates that took place in the special committee and in the Hemicycle no longer exist. » The former representative (Renaissance) of Yvelines is not the only one to be distressed. “It’s disappointing to stop so close to the goal, describes Didier Martin, former deputy for Côte-d’Or (Renaissance) and co-rapporteur of the text. We had voted on the balance points of the text to which the debates in session had led us. » The bill is “the first collateral victim of dissolution”, deplores Olivier Falorni, general rapporteur of the text.
“It would not be one of the priorities”
Like other supporters of “assisted dying”, the former Democratic MP for Charente-Maritime mainly sees the pure and simple abandonment of the reform looming. “If the National Rally [RN] majority comes out of the polls, he fears, the text will be definitively buried, that’s clear. »
In the Hemicycle, the RN deputies fought step by step against “assisted dying”. Monday June 10, Sébastien Chenu, spokesperson for Marine Le Pen’s party, announced it on RMC and BFM-TV: in the event of a victory for the RN, “It would not be one of the immediate priorities to take up this text”declared the outgoing MP from the North. “That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do anything. We really want to work on palliative care. Our proposal is to provide the means to enable the French to shorten their suffering, to end their lives with the greatest dignity.”he added.
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