French MPs are due to vote on assisted dying bill
From the speaker's podium at the Assemblée Nationale on May 24, Roland Lescure opened the final debate session on the bill establishing a right to "assisted dying" by praising the MPs present. "I congratulate you," said Lescure, an MP from Emmanuel Macron's Renaissance party, commending the "exemplary examination" of the bill, which is set to go to a vote on Tuesday, May 27. No uproar or heated clashes disrupted the seven days of debate devoted to the bill, which, according to the MPs from the left and centrist blocs who championed it, "guarantees a final freedom." However, there was still some dissension among lawmakers of the Macron-aligned centrist bloc.
Supporters of this "major bill" did not deliver any passionate speeches. They stuck to a low profile in both the substance and style of their interventions – a deliberate strategy. "Let's not give arguments to those who are opposed to the bill no matter what," said Olivier Falorni, a left-wing independent MP who was the bill's lead rapporteur, on May 2, speaking to left-wing MPs tempted to extend the assisted dying right to minors. Catherine Vautrin, the minister for labor, health, solidarity and families, attended almost all the roughly 90 hours of parliamentary debates, and set herself two objectives: To reassure critics about the "strict" nature of the eligibility criteria for assisted dying, and to provide "guarantees" aimed to "secure" the procedure.
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