2024-02-20 14:00:00
They represent a flagship event in the field of health, bringing together no less than 200 decision-makers from Europe, Quebec and North Africa. Among the personalities from the world of health present at the Nice Health Meetings, Matthias Savignac, president of the General Mutual of National Education (MGEN), invited to discuss the values that the mutualist movement carries, and the role that it can play an essential role in the health system.
But also the opportunity for us to question him on two major legislative news to come: the inclusion of abortion in the constitution and the end of life, two very strong commitments of the MGEN.
Why do you think it is so important to promote participatory democracy?
The participation rates in all elections demonstrate this: there is a growing distance between citizens and places of decision-making in the broad sense. Today there is a form of distrust among citizens towards politicians, institutions, etc.; they do not feel taken into account, recognized, or even associated with the collective destiny. The place of the citizen in governance and participatory democracy are major subjects. This is how we can restore confidence and create a real capacity for action.
Concretely?
There is a real subject around the repoliticization of our societies, our structures… French society has become “archipelagoized”. What is the common denominator of citizens today? It’s not the institutions, it’s not the State, it’s the territory, the city, the neighborhood, the community. We have thus moved from a logic of general interest to a logic of particular interest. It seems to me that we must give meaning to the general interest, to regain a stronger capacity for action.
The Citizens’ Convention on the end of life is, from this point of view, exemplary. It brought together 185 citizens drawn at random, illustrating the diversity of French society; they participated in the development of a collective project for the whole of society. It is a great exercise in participatory democracy and allows us to give coherence and meaning to policy and projects.
Their conclusions – the convention declared itself in favor of euthanasia and assisted suicide, under conditions – offended palliative care experts. Who should you “follow”?
If we consider that the citizen is not capable of making decisions, then we must prohibit the right of the majority and let the experts guide the world! I think that each citizen is an expert in their own existence and that their experience allows them to form a conviction. The Convention was made by ordinary citizens and in six months, they acquired the bases, the context, the issues, they shared their points of view, and collective intelligence proved that it was capable of making account.
The Convention does not resolve the problem of palliative care…
In 1994, MGEN was one of the first structures to create palliative care units. Active assistance in dying and palliative care are not contradictory, they are complementary. We oppose those who say that the law should not be tampered with until palliative care is widespread; this means that we will not touch Never to the law, because today we are very far from having equal access to palliative care in all territories. We firmly believe that the current law must be changed, because it does not respond to all situations.
The citizens’ convention submitted its report in April 2023, but there is still no bill on active assistance in dying…
It is a clear and very balanced report on euthanasia, which has been submitted, but indeed, we see a President of the Republic who today trembles at the prospect of presenting this law, while 92% of the population is favorable to a change in the law. Thus, the bill has still not been presented to the Council of Ministers, and it has not yet been passed through the Assembly. However, there is urgency, as evidenced by the hundreds of emails from members reaching us. I think of this Polynesian woman, suffering from Charcot’s disease, who had to travel 18,000km to die in Belgium, far from home. We cannot let people face such situations without support and solutions.
Another subject that concerns you: the inclusion in the constitution of the right to abortion.
MGEN has been fighting for abortion for a very long time, well before the Veil law in 1975. For the record, before abortion was legalized, we practiced abortion completely illegally, taking responsibility for it. This subject is eminently important. Women’s rights are fragile; they are the first to be called into question in the majority of societies which have evolved towards less democratic regimes. It is therefore very important to constitutionalize the right to abortion. But of course we must strengthen sex education and prevention. Prevention and abortion are complementary, they are not opposed.
Why is the prevention to which you are so attached not really “taking off” in France? Funding problem?
We are not short of money. But prevention is long-term investment, a time that does not correspond to political time. Anyone who sets up a prevention system will not reap the benefits. It’s a real subject.
A final word on secularism?
We fight every day for social rights, abortion, assisted reproduction, marriage for all, end of life… I think there is a very strong link between all these fights, it is secularism. Today, all those who oppose changes to the end of life, abortion, contraception, etc., are the same as those who oppose secularism.
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