The pro-euthanasia movements in France They demanded from the president of the country, Emmanuel Macronto keep his word and pass a law on die with dignity as soon as possible and they ordered him to to distance oneself from “religious pressure”” exercised over him by Catholic and Jewish officials.
France, which has legislation from 2016 allowing patients “in agony” to stop taking medication and enjoy palliative care, lacks a regulation on euthanasiaas it has existed in Belgium for 20 years and which opens the way to active medical assistance to help in dying under certain conditions.
Last April, Macron promised, as soon as the work of the Citizens’ Convention that he himself promoted had finished, a bill on the matter by the end of summer 2023.
Hardy’s Request
However, in the absence of progress on an issue that the majority of French people support, pro-euthanasia movements and voices like that of the famous French singer Françoise Hardy79 years old and sick with lymphatic cancer since 2004, this week urged Macron to keep your word without further delay.
“Unfortunately what Hardy has written is important (his illness almost does not allow him to speak), There are other people who cannot wait any longer, much less 18 months, as the minister has said.“Jean-Luc Romero-Michel, honorary president of the French Association in favor of the Right to Die with Dignity, explained to EFE.
Romero-Michel, who is also a councilor for human rights and the fight against discrimination in the Paris City Council of the socialist Anne Hidalgo, was referring to the statements of the Secretary of State for territorial organization and the Health professions, Agnès Firmin Le Bodo.
In a recent interview, Firmin Le Bodo announced that The rule may not be effective next yearhiding behind the fact that the bill will only land in Parliament in February 2024.
“For an issue like that it will be necessary for the text to go back and forth from the Assembly to the Senate, up to 18 months of debates will be necessary,” predicted the Secretary of State, foreseeing obstacles from the classic right of the Republicans, the majority in the Chamber. high.
In this way, at the earliest, The law would only come into force in 2025.
The “religious lobby” in a secular country
Romero-Michel attributed the current impasse to the influence of the “religious lobby” in France, a country that declares itself secularhe recalled.
For the Parisian councilor, the most intransigent religions on the issue are the main monotheistic ones (Christianity, Judaism, Islam) and these, along with certain doctors opposed to euthanasia, are having great power of persuasion before Macron.
“The Catholic Church, which is very powerful, Not alone. The chief rabbi of France had some amazing words, comparing it to the Holocaust. It is not about choosing between life and death, that religious influence is very strong on the president,” said the politician, also a reference in France for his fight in favor of the LGTBI community and the fight against AIDS.
According to the surveys, 70% of French people are in favor of a law that legalizes euthanasiaa term that Macron himself, the son of doctors, avoids uttering publicly.
“We are going to wait until the beginning of the year, if there is no progress, we will begin to pressure the deputies to present a bill,” Romero-Michel warned.
This activist, of Spanish parents, takes the majority in the lower house for granted, with the entire left in favor, at least two-thirds of Macron’s party and his centrist allies and “certain surprise votes” from the Republicans and the extreme right of the National Group.
