2024-02-09 08:39:07
Emmanuel Macron, at the Elysée Palace, in Paris, February 5, 2024. LUDOVIC MARIN / AFP
Artichokes from Brittany and poultry vol-au-vent were on the dinner menu at the Elysée on Thursday February 8. Representatives of religions were once once more invited to Emmanuel Macron’s table to discuss the subject of the end of life. The previous dinner with religious authorities dates back to March 9, 2023. Since then, the Head of State has set a course: to unveil in the coming weeks the « contours » a law that would authorize access to assistance in dying (assisted suicide and euthanasia). He planned to previously present a “ten-year plan for the development of palliative care”.
Thursday, the Head of State confirmed this scenario to religious representatives as well as other invited personalities: Jean-François Delfraissy, president of the national consultative ethics committee (CCNE), Alain Claeys, co-rapporteur of the opinion rendered by the CCNE on the end of life in September 2022, two doctors and two members of the citizens’ convention on the end of life. Catherine Vautrin, Minister of Labor, Health and Solidarity, also attended the dinner.
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On the precise modalities of assistance in dying, Emmanuel Macron was however not very explicit, even cryptic. Is it to accommodate religious groups, the majority of whom are opposed to euthanasia and assisted suicide, or does he himself still doubt the system provided for by the future law? “It seems to me that President Macron is really wondering, analyzed Mgr Rougé, Bishop of Nanterre, before attending the invitation of the Head of State. How can we not be sensitive to what many caregivers, doctors and even some great intellectual and spiritual authorities say who are not indifferent to it? It is the honor of politicians to have the hand that trembles on such heavy and sensitive subjects. »
“Speech was free”
Emmanuel Macron first let each of his guests express themselves on Thursday. “The quality of listening was exceptional”welcomed Antony Boussemart, co-president of the Buddhist Union of France at the end. “We discussed substance in a very respectful context,” appreciated Pastor Christian Krieger, president of the Protestant Federation of France. “The atmosphere was full of seriousness and listening,” abounds Mgr Matthieu Rougé. “Speech was free”adds one of the doctors present.
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Then the Head of State delivered a reflection that was more ethical and philosophical than practical. Regarding the opening of assisted dying, « [s]we hope is to succeed in proposing a space which is neither a freedom nor a right, but a possibility which would be a lesser evil”, reports Antony Boussemart. In Macron’s eyes, “the question is there, it must be answered. The state of the law does not fully achieve this today. Whose act ».
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