Promoted by the Luca Coscioni association, which has been fighting for freedom of choice in matters of end-of-life for 20 years, the proposal for a popular referendum on this question had collected 1.2 million signatures, far exceeding the required threshold of 500,000. But on Tuesday, February 15, the Court declared the referendum unconstitutional because the repeal, even partial, of article 579 of the Penal Code (which punishes those who practice euthanasia with a sentence of 6 to 15 years prison) would not respect the minimum rights of protection of life enshrined in the Constitution. More precisely, insofar as it is a question not of assisted suicide but of active euthanasia, admitting the referendum might have led to uncontrollable drifts, according to the judges.
“The road to legalization will be long and winding”
A position defended by the powerful Catholic association “Pro Vita e Famiglia” (For Life and Family). “The legalization of euthanasia might allow anyone to kill themselves for all sorts of reasons, such as romantic disappointment or economic hardship. » However, safeguards would have been imposed, if only because article 579 of the Penal Code would have remained in force for all cases that might be judged as voluntary murder.
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According to Marco Cappato, treasurer of the Luca Coscioni association, the Court’s rejection is “Bad news for Italian democracy and for all the sick who suffer unbearable suffering. The road to the legalization of euthanasia will be longer and more tortuous, but we will fight by exercising civil disobedience and by multiplying legal remedies. »
Assisted suicide, the Vatican’s strategic turn on bioethics
The secretary of the Democratic Party, Enrico Letta, a moderate Catholic, former member of the Student Movement of Catholic Action, was the first politician to react. “Now Parliament must pass the Assisted Suicide Bill, following the guidance given by the Constitutional Court in 2019 by partially decriminalizing Article 580 of the Penal Code on assisted suicide (6-12 year sentence of confinement). The left does not intend to backtrack on individual rights. »
“We do not vote on life! »
An opinion shared by the 5 Star Movement. “It is a political and moral imperative for Parliament”, added Giuseppe Conte, ex-president of the Council. But several parties, particularly on the far right, such as the League of Matteo Salvini and the neofascists, Brothers of Italy of Giorgia Meloni, are ready to raise barricades in the Chamber of Deputies where the first amendments, aimed at widening the meshes of the text of the law, will be voted on this Thursday, February 16.
According to sociologist Marina Mengarelli, a member of the Onlus Bioethics Council, Italian society has matured considerably on end-of-life issues. “But this development is misunderstood by a large part of the political class and institutions. The referendum on euthanasia would have allowed the population to exercise their civil rights”she points out.
→ READ. End of life: how civil society pushes European states to legislate
Conversely, center-right senator Paola Binetti, a former president of the Scienza e Vita association close to the Italian Episcopal Conference, continues to hammer “We do not vote on life ! I hope that the Chamber of Deputies acts in coherence with the decision of the Court on the question of euthanasia”. The real risk is that the legal voids will not be filled by a law, for lack of agreement on its adoption.
