Two newspapers for one bill. In an interview to La Croix and Libération, published on Sunday, March 10, Emmanuel Macron outlined for the first time the content of the bill that will open up "the possibility of requesting aid in dying under certain strict conditions." The French president specified the parliamentary schedule: The bill "will be on the table of the Council of Ministers in April, for a first reading in May," he pledged. With this timeline, he favors a debate in the Assemblée Nationale before the European elections on June 9. On Monday morning, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal indicated that the bill would be submitted to the Assemblée on May 27.
Announcing the bill in newspapers with such distinct editorial lines – La Croix is a Catholic publication and Libération is resolutely secular – is, in the eyes of Macron, the mark of his ability to reconcile positions on a subject that potentially divides French society. Since September 2022, the same ambition for a "calm debate" has led him to admit to "taking [his] time" on an "intimidating" subject, he confided again on February 8, during a dinner at the Elysée with representatives of religious denominations.
While the president has allowed the debate to simmer in society, the bill he supports in his interview seems surprisingly to have been frozen in place a few months ago. The text he detailed bears a striking resemblance to the one submitted to him in October 2023 by Agnès Firmin Le Bodo, then minister in charge of healthcare professions. The similarities between Macron's announcements and the fall draft − Le Monde was able to read − are surprising, given that the president's entourage, his interlocutors and representatives of religious denominations have all attested to his "doubts", noting his "hesitations" and even his "shaky hand" when it came to making a decision.
Was it feigned or a real dilemma? The president is now confident: "My hand isn't shaking (...) I'm fairly sure of the path we're taking," he confided. Never mind the reservations expressed by some members of the medical community.
Macron is adamant about his constancy, notably to justify the introduction of aid in dying. "The Claeys-Leonetti law, which sets out the current legal framework, did not make it possible to deal with situations humanely," very difficult situations," he explained. "We can think of cases of patients with terminal cancer who, for some, are forced to go abroad to receive care. So we had to go further." He insisted that "this law is necessary because there are cases that we cannot accept humanely in our country today, which make families, patients and medical teams suffer."
You have 61.66% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.