French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday said for the first time that he supports new end-of-life legislation that would allow what he called “assisted dying” and wants his government to present the bill to parliament in May, News.ro reported with reference on News.ro. agencies AFP and Reuters.

France’s neighbors – Switzerland, Belgium and the Netherlands – have already passed laws allowing medical assistance in some cases. But France opposed the move, partly under pressure from the Catholic Church.

After months of debate and several delays, Emmanuel Macron on Sunday unveiled his French “end-of-life” model: “aid in death” that would allow certain patients under “strict conditions” to receive a “lethal substance.”

In an interview published by La Croix and Libération, the head of state said that the government bill, which will also include a chapter on strengthening palliative care, will be presented to the Council of Ministers in April and will undergo a first reading in the National Committee. Assembly in May, before the elections to the European Parliament in June. The parliamentary process is expected to be lengthy, with a final result unlikely to be reached before 2025.

The Claes-Leonetti End-of-Life Act, passed in 2016, allows deep sedation, but only for people whose short-term prognosis is dire.

In an interview with Liberation newspaper, Macron said he did not want to call the new legislation euthanasia or assisted suicide, but rather “aid to die”.

“It does not, strictly speaking, create a new right or freedom, but it paves a way that did not exist before, which opens up the possibility to make a request for assistance in dying under certain strict conditions,” he said.

Who can use assisted dying

This option will only apply to adults who are “capable of full and complete recognition” – which excludes, for example, psychiatric patients or patients with Alzheimer’s disease – suffering from an “incurable” pathology with a “short- or medium-term, life-threatening prognosis” “, and to experience “overwhelming” suffering that cannot be alleviated.

If a patient wants to access this new “help”, they can submit a request and receive an expert opinion from the medical team within two weeks.

If the result is favorable, the patient will receive a prescription for the lethal drug, valid for three months, which he can take on his own. Or, if he is unable to do so – especially in certain neurodegenerative diseases such as Charcot disease – he can be assisted by a member of the medical staff or a volunteer of his choice.

A person can “go out at any time,” the president said.

Although the act can be equated to a form of assisted suicide, he insisted he wanted to avoid the term or euthanasia because the patient’s “consent” is important and “medical judgment plays a role”, “with precise criteria”.

A sensitive topic

The subject is sensitive: while several opinion polls show that most French people favor legalizing some form of assisted dying, religious groups and large numbers of caregivers reject the prospect.

Hence the president’s choice to appear simultaneously in the Catholic daily La Croix and another leftist daily Libération, which has often supported the cause.

Macron said certain conditions must be met in the new law, and a medical team will assess and make sure the criteria for the decision are correct. According to him, the law will be aimed only at adults who are capable of making such a decision and whose prognosis for life is threatening, for example, in the last stage of cancer. Family members can also appeal the decision, Macron said.

The bill is based on the work of a group of 184 randomly named French citizens who discussed the issue. They completed their work last year, with 76% of them in favor of allowing some form of assisted dying for those who want it.

The decision to go ahead with the end-of-life law comes after the right to abortion was enshrined in the French Constitution following an overwhelming majority vote by French lawmakers earlier this month.

Macron has been trying to cement his image as a social reformer just three months before European Parliament elections in June. According to polls, his party is more than 10 points behind the far-right National Union party of his former presidential rival Marine Le Pen.

An amendment to the 2016 law on termination of life, which allows for “deep and continuous sedation” in cases of excruciating suffering where the short-term prognosis for life is minimal, was a campaign promise of Emmanuel Macron.

Improving palliative care

The bill would include measures from a ten-year plan to be unveiled at the end of March to strengthen palliative care, which many see as insufficient in France. The president wanted to have a single text “so that it does not appear that assisted dying is offered because society is unable to take care of itself.”

“Over the whole period, we will invest another one billion euros in this area” on top of the 1.6 billion euros currently allocated to supportive care, Macron said. A palliative care unit will be created in each of the 21 departments that do not yet have one.

During the interview, the head of state said that “thousands of people and families are waiting for this development”, but he also admitted that this law cannot be “completely” consensual.