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ER Editor: France’s permissive euthanasia law, apparently already approved by the National Assembly, just got rejected by the Senate. There is a palpable feeling of relief here.
See our previous report on Jan. 20 —
Paris’ Annual March for Life Puts Euthanasia in the Spotlight
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This article also provides a useful summary —
France’s assisted suicide law decimated in Senate
Of note:
Bernard Fialiaire, a centrist senator, said he was “shocked” that assisted suicide had been debated before addressing shortcomings in palliative care, warning that the order risked reinforcing the idea that assisted suicide could compensate for inadequate end-of-life services. A separate bill specifically aimed at expanding palliative care, seen as far less divisive, is due to be examined later this week.
Check out Helene de Lauzun at European Conservative —
Pro-Life Win: French Senators Rewrite Euthanasia Bill
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End of life: French Senators oppose any form of assisted dying
FRANCE SOIR
On Wednesday, senators opposed the creation of any form of assisted dying during debates on end-of-life care, with the right-wing-dominated chamber burying this societal reform, which is nevertheless expected to return to the National Assembly soon.
The chaotic and confusing debates came to an abrupt end with the rejection of an initial article setting out the conditions required to access assisted suicide or euthanasia.
Later that evening, the Senate right wing definitively buried the bill by completely rewriting the key article creating active assisted dying, thereby emptying it of its substance.
The amendment tabled by senators, some of whom are close to Republican leader Bruno Retailleau, replaced this medical assistance in dying with a “right to the best possible relief from pain and suffering.”
Debates continued into the evening despite the absence of provisions for assisted dying in the text.
“The entire text has been rendered meaningless today because its cornerstone has been removed,” lamented Philippe Mouiller (Les Républicains), chair of the Senate Social Affairs Committee, after the article setting out the conditions was rejected. He was moved by this turn of events, but announced that the upper house would nevertheless continue its examination of the bill in the coming days.
A formal vote on the entire bill proposed by Representative Olivier Falorni is still scheduled for Wednesday, January 28, but it will be meaningless, as the text has been stripped of its backbone.
The rest of the parliamentary process is therefore likely to take place in the National Assembly, where a clear majority had emerged, unlike in the Senate. The government hopes to bring the bill before the deputies for a second reading as soon as possible, potentially as early as February.
The article concerning the conditions for access to assisted dying was rejected for various reasons.
A large part of the right and the centrists, opposed to any form of assisted dying in the wake of Bruno Retailleau, voted against it. The Socialist group also opposed it because the wording had been considerably modified and, in its view, strayed too far from the measure voted on in the National Assembly in June 2025.
The lesson of this vote is clear: the differences of opinion in the Senate were undoubtedly too great for the upper house to produce a coherent text supported by a majority.
“This is a sad evening for the Senate that we are collectively experiencing,” lamented Socialist Senate leader Patrick Kanner. “The Senate has turned this bill into a form of political agony. We are making a mockery of the upper house on an issue that is essential to the French people,” he added, attacking the divisions on the right.
“We cannot ask senators who are opposed to euthanasia and assisted suicide to vote for an article like this. It’s impossible. That’s all there is to it,” retorted centrist Loïc Hervé. ” In all conscience, I cannot vote for a bill recognizing assisted dying if we do not have the right to palliative care,” added LR Senator Marie Mercier.
In the coming days, the Senate will examine another, more consensual bill on palliative care. Many parliamentarians have expressed regret that this bill was not examined first.
Some have even called on the government to withdraw the text on assisted dying from the agenda in order to move quickly on to the second bill. But Health Minister Stéphanie Rist, who supports the compromise reached in the National Assembly, was unable to respond positively, stating that withdrawing the text would “interrupt the parliamentary process.”
The parliamentary timetable for this reform will be long, as it will still require at least one round trip between the two chambers. But the lack of a majority in the Senate now seems to indicate one thing: consensus will probably be reached in the Assembly, to which the government can give the final say.
“The Senate is showing its inability, unlike the Assembly, to find a compromise on such an important bill,” lamented Jonathan Denis, president of the Association for the Right to Die with Dignity (ADMD), calling for the bill to be returned to the Assembly quickly.
If this major reform of Emmanuel Macron’s second five-year term is successful, France will join other countries that have legislated on the issue, such as the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, and Canada.
Source
Featured image source: https://europeanconservative.com/articles/news/france-pro-life-win-senators-rewrite-euthanasia-bill/
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