The 184 citizens who met for several months will be received on Monday at the Elysee Palace by Emmanuel Macron, the day after the adoption of their report. The Head of State must announce an “act 2” of the debate on the end of life, according to the presidency.
A page is turned, but everything remains to be written. The citizens’ convention on the end of life adopted, on Sunday April 2, in Paris, the conclusions of its work initiated in December at the request of Emmanuel Macron. In this nuanced document, the 184 French people selected at random for this participatory democracy adventure formulate a series of recommendations intended to improve support until death in our country. They offer to “to guarantee” sufficient budgets for palliative care, unevenly deployed in the territory, and are mostly in favor of euthanasia and assisted suicide.
And after ? This is the question that the members of the citizens’ convention will have in their mouths, Monday, at 10 a.m., at the Elysée, where they are invited for a time of exchange with the Head of State. Expectations are measured. Even before the launch of this ephemeral assembly, the government let it be known that there was no question for it of taking up “unfiltered” citizen proposals in a text of law, contrary to what had been promised in 2019 to the previous climate convention. The executive was content to assure that the participants would be “informed of the follow-up that will be given to their work”.
Showing their credentials so as not to encroach on the prerogatives of the government and of Parliament, the organizers of the convention on the end of life had therefore immediately renounced providing the body with a legislative committee, responsible for transcribing, in terms specific to the law, the proposals. Citizens drawn by lot “do not have the mission of writing the law”had quickly clarified the governance committee within the Economic, Social and Environmental Council (Cese).
Towards an “act 2” of the debate on the end of life
Asked by Matignon to“enlighten the government”, citizens nonetheless hope to influence the debate and influence future public decision-making. Because there is little doubt that the executive is moving towards a text of law, possibly “by the end of 2023”, as suggested by the Elysée in September. Since then, the spokesperson for the executive, Olivier Véran, has acknowledged that a text would see “presumably” the day. It remains to define what will be retained from the citizens’ convention.
“It is time for the voice of citizens to be fully heard and taken into account”, warn the members of the convention in their report. More offensive, the chair of the governance committee, Claire Thoury, welcomes the hope of “democratic revitalization” carried by this convention and says to wait “clear political outlets”.
“Failing to take into account the work of the convention at all would risk further undermining the confidence that citizens have in our institutions.”
Claire Thoury, president of the governance committee of the citizens’ conventionduring a press briefing
Message well received at the highest summit of the State. “The idea is not that this exercise will end in a dead end”, reassured one at the Elysée, Sunday afternoon. The presidency expresses its “satisfaction” on the progress of the convention and welcomes the climate “very respectful” who led the discussion. Monday morning, Emmanuel Macron “will draw the conclusions of this essential work” And “probably pave the way for a possible act 2 in this national debate”reveal its services.
“No” foreign model is “duplicable”
Will the president take a step towards active assistance in dying? Pressure is also mounting among supporters of “free choice”, especially in Parliament. The opinion of the citizens’ convention “must be heard and lead us to act, here and now”reacted on Sunday, the deputy MoDem, Olivier Falornimember of the majority and president of the parliamentary study group on the end of life. “I expect the president to hear the majority in favor of changing the law to introduce active assistance in dying”slips to franceinfo the socialist senator Michelle Meunier, who is participating in a mission on palliative care.
But Emmanuel Macron has already made it known that, on this sensitive subject, he was not “press” to move forward. Its priority remains to lay the foundations for a “Orderly, serene and enlightened debate”with “lots of precautions”repeats the Elysée.
“The conclusions of the convention will constitute an important point of reference but which is part of a much broader debate, which will continue to live.”
the Elyseeduring a press briefing
The presidency recalls that the work of the citizens’ convention was not launched in such a way “isolated”. At the same time, the executive has set up working groups to take the pulse of deputies and senators, on the one hand, and health professionals, on the other. Meetings were held under the aegis of ministers Olivier Véran – in charge of Democratic Renewal – and Agnès Firmin Le Bodo – in charge of Territorial Organization and Health Professions. They drew from it confidential summaries which they have just given to Emmanuel Macron, according to the Elysée. “It is more of a report of the exchanges than recommendations”specifies a ministerial source at franceinfo.
The documents also account for ministers’ trips in recent months to countries that have considered or authorized active assistance in dying. Passed through Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States, Agnès Firmin Le Bodo says she came back with only one “certainty” : “No model from any country can be duplicated in ours”as she confided, in March, to the National Assembly. “We couldn’t do a copy-paste.”
Priority to palliative care?
Before working on a French model of active assistance in dying, the Head of State can rely on another report, published Wednesday in the National Assembly by the evaluation mission of the Claeys-Leonetti law of 2016 Like the other works, this inventory allows us to identify a broad consensus on the need to improve the care of end-of-life patients. In these times of strong social divisions, the executive has understood its political interest in responding to these demands as a priority.
Agnès Firmin Le Bodo is thus preparing an instruction to revise, “end of April”, the 2008 circular on the organization of palliative care (PDF). The minister judges It is essential to overhaul the structure of the sector, particularly in terms of organization, in towns and hospitals, of the care of minors and of training.
Then, the executive will present “before summer” a “ten-year strategy” development of palliative care and end-of-life support. Despite five national plans rolled out since the end of the 1990s, the Minister acknowledged the inefficiency of these plans in achieving a “equal access” taking care. So make way for a ten-year plan, with outlines and funding still unclear. The success of “act 2” envisaged by Emmanuel Macron will undoubtedly be played out on this meeting.