2024-10-04 08:00:00
The Prime Minister, Michel Barnier, on France 2, October 3, 2024. THOMAS SAMSON / AFP
A confession and a challenge. The Prime Minister, Michel Barnier, said for the first time, Thursday October 3, on France 2, “personally agree” with the bill opening access to assistance in dying, in other words to euthanasia and assisted suicide for incurable patients, under certain conditions. “I’m talking about the first bill”he corrected himself.
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Examination of the text at first reading was abruptly stopped by the dissolution of the National Assembly in June. The Prime Minister also said “favorable to returning to work at the time it was interrupted”. Asked about his intention to restart the project as it was examined, Mr. Barnier replied “yes, to save time” et “perhaps by also listening to caregivers, who must be respected”. A high-risk challenge for the head of government, both “positions”he stressed, are “different” within political groups. The most difficult task will consist of bringing together the antagonistic visions of the deputies in favor of assisted dying.
A single point unites them: they call for legislation without further delay. “The time is no longer for consultation, the work has been done, we must take action”assures Agnès Firmin Le Bodo, former Minister Delegate for Health Professions and then Health in the governments of Elisabeth Borne. The mainstay of the text presented by Emmanuel Macron in the Council of Ministers in April, Ms. Firmin Le Bodo, MP (Horizons) for Seine-Maritime, today urges the Prime Minister to table “in January [2025] » a bill, inspired by the government’s copy in the spring.
Guardrails
Ms. Firmin Le Bodo affirms that, if she does not obtain “in the coming days” Matignon’s commitment that a text will be tabled on this date, she will table two legislative proposals (PPL), one on palliative care, the other on assistance in dying. Why two texts rather than just one? A PPL cannot have as many articles as a bill, she maintains. The two together will be almost a carbon copy of the bill that she developed with the Elysée throughout 2023 and 2024.
Ms. Firmin Le Bodo hopes to convince the government to resume the legislative file from its starting point. She thus intends to thwart the offensive led by Olivier Falorni, the deputy (various left) of Charente-Maritime, which took over word for word the version voted in May and June after work by the special committee of the Assembly, then by the deputies in session, in a bill tabled in July. He collected 180 signatures from deputies.
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