The Prime Minister wants parliamentary work on the end of life to succeed. But with a modification that does not please the initiators of the text at all.
Will there be a major law governing the end of life in France in 2025? At the start of last year, deputies spent dozens of hours proposing, debating and fixing measures in a legal text which seemed capable of achieving consensus. But the legislative procedure had been stopped dead by the dissolution. Many parliamentarians were delighted with Michel Barnier’s commitment to put the text back on the Assembly’s agenda at the beginning of February 2025. Patatras, censorship. The proposed agenda fades away.
François Bayrou intends, in turn, to put the work back on the workbench. However, he has a fixed idea: not to vote on a single text, but two: one on palliative care, the other on assisted dying. An idea that he had formulated a few years ago and which he would like to realize now that he heads the government. The new Prime Minister only very moderately appreciates the developments brought about by the text on assisted death. And politically, this would allow parliamentarians – mainly those on the right – to vote for the first part and refuse the second.
“This split is a bad idea,” responded Olivier Falorni, Modem deputy, on franceinfo on January 21. “I personally disagree,” he said dryly. The MP had to measure his words: he knows that his position as general rapporteur of the initial bill on the end of life gives him a form of authority on the subject. He therefore explained: “End-of-life support is based on two pillars: palliative care which is the main response, and on the other hand, active assistance in dying, which is the last resort. Separate the two makes no sense.” And added: “This idea is not new to split the two subjects. It is systematically put forward by opponents of active assistance in dying. It is in fact a question of saying ‘Let’s vote for a law on palliative care and then wait a few years to pass a law on assisted dying.
The President of the National Assembly, Yaël Braun-Pivet, very involved in the parliamentary process, also expressed her disagreement. “I was, like many, extremely disappointed. I was expecting commitments and I did not see them. For me, it is extremely important and we cannot ignore this debate like that,” he said. -she regretted on RTL on January 21, evoking the initial silence of François Bayrou. And to insist on France 5 in the evening: “Palliative care and the end of life must move forward together, in a single text. It is already ready. The French are ready. I call on the government to reinstate this text in the “National Assembly quickly,” she warned. If the two texts are separated, the entire legislative procedure will have to be repeated in full.