Discussions on end-of-life devices are progressing. On Sunday, the citizens’ convention – made up of 180 participants – met for a vote before the Economic, Social and Environment Council (Cese). The goal? Responding to Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne’s question: “Should access to active assistance in dying be open?” The 180 citizens voted 75% ‘yes’ and 19% ‘no’. A small part of the voters decided not to decide.
After almost three months of debate, 84% of citizens felt that the “end-of-life support framework” did not respond “to the different situations encountered”. Regarding the terms of access to this aid in dying, 72% of citizens were in favor of assisted suicide, 66% in favor of euthanasia.
The 184 participants drawn at random therefore unsurprisingly voted in favor of a change in the current legislation, which President Emmanuel Macron plans to change. At the beginning of January, a first informal and impromptu vote had indicated a movement in this direction.
During Sunday’s session, citizens debated the issue of minors at length. At 56%, they are in favor of access to assisted suicide also being open to them. “Congratulations to all of you for restoring hope in this somewhat worrying democratic context”, greeted Claire Thoury before the assembly of citizens, promising that minority positions would be taken into account.
“We have several debates in the National Assembly which reflect a not very glorious image, here you have 184 citizens who are debating in a peaceful way”, she argued during a press conference. “We told the citizens that it is the politicians who will decide in the end, that it is not here that we decide, but that we inform the public decision”, explained the president of the governance committee of the agreement.
The number two of the Republicans, François-Xavier Bellamy, estimated for his part on Monday that the citizens’ convention on the end of life “represents only itself”. In an interview on Sud Radio, he added that the citizens’ convention “goes around in circles and produces conclusions that do not engage our democracy”. As a reminder, the MEP is firmly “opposed to euthanasia”, as he reiterated on Monday morning.
