One year after the conclusion of his work, on April 3, 2023, Emmanuel Macron learned the lessons, Friday April 26, from the citizens’ convention on the end of life. In front of 137 of the 184 former participants in this work which lasted more than three months, the Head of State welcomed the“democratic innovation” to which they contributed, estimating that that on the climate, which ended in 2020, had experienced “ failures ». He took the opportunity to announce that a third convention would be well launched ” before the end of the year “with the aim of“achieve by the end of the five-year term”. The theme will be stopped ” in the coming months “.
The exchange lasted an hour in the vast hypostyle room of the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE). Resulting from nine work sessions spread over more than three months, “your work [ont] opened the way »continued the head of state, to what he calls the “French end-of-life model”. A model that has two “pillars”he said: a plan for the development of palliative care, and a bill on support for the sick and the end of life which provides for the opening of “assisted dying”.
“What you did is not a surveycomplimented Mr. Macron. You have made a choice as a citizen to train, to debate, to learn in a loyal and transparent organized framework. What emerges from your debates is the expression of an informed opinion which binds us. » And that, “if we don’t follow you, [nous oblige] to explain to you why », he added in front of an audience also made up of deputies who have been examining the text in a special committee since Monday April 22.
“Are we being manipulated? »
” He is very good. We must recognize it”said Marc Moreigne, one of the members of the convention at the end of the meeting. “That’s even the dangerquipped Micha Jovanovic, another member. The simple fact that we are committed to this agreement and that we feel a responsibility shows that we adhere to the approach. Are we still being manipulated? »he wondered.
Was the citizens’ convention the democratic alibi for a societal reform that Emmanuel Macron would have initiated anyway? One of the members of the convention, Martial Breton, tried to get to the bottom of it by asking the head of state this question: “ If 75% of us had been conventionally opposed to assisted dying, would you have followed this recommendation? » Mr. Macron’s response: “It is clear that if you had very widely expressed opposition which was that we should not touch the text of the law [Claeys-Leonetti de 2016], I can tell you that I would not have undertaken this fundamental work that I carried out. You would have created a situation that made it almost impossible to open this path. »
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