End of life: the government proposes that the Senate examine the two texts after the draft budget

The government will propose to the Senate to begin the debate on the "end of life" after the examination of the draft budget, so that it can be decided "before the presidential election of 2027" , declared its spokesperson, Maud Bregeon, in an interview published Saturday, October 18 by Le Parisien .

Two bills are involved. The first is fairly consensual, on palliative care, and the other, much more sensitive, on the creation of assisted dying. Both texts were adopted at the end of May in their first reading in the National Assembly , but the date for their examination in the Senate has still not been ratified.

"We will propose to the Senate the inclusion of the two texts, on palliative care and active assistance in dying, following the examination of the budget ," assured Maud Bregeon. "This debate will have to be resolved before the 2027 presidential election."

The Senate had initially planned to examine these texts for two weeks, starting on October 7, but the censure of François Bayrou's government led to an initial postponement. A discussion had then been planned for October 20, but this date could not be met due to the resignation on October 6 of Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, who was ultimately reappointed to the same post a few days later.

These postponements raise fears that a final vote may not be possible before the next presidential election. Two readings will be required in each chamber, and the Senate, which is dominated by the right and center and has expressed some reservations, could amend the text on assisted dying.

This bill by MoDem MP Olivier Falorni, who has been committed to this cause for decades, creates a "right to assisted dying" consisting of "authorizing and supporting" a patient who wishes to administer a lethal substance, or to have it administered to them if they are "not physically able to do so." It therefore legalizes assisted suicide, and exceptionally euthanasia, without these words, which are deemed to have negative connotations, appearing in the text.

"We are in a quagmire," denounced MoDem MP Olivier Falorni, who initiated the end-of-life bills, on France Inter on Saturday. According to the centrist MP, "the majority LR group [in the Senate] is doing everything to ensure this debate does not take place." Therefore, the government, which has weeks set aside, must either include "these two important texts on the Senate's agenda," or "resort to a referendum."