Does the appointment, Friday, December 13, of François Bayrou as Prime Minister portend a change of course on the end of life? Under pressure from supporters of assisted dying in the National Assembly, his predecessor Michel Barnier finally agreed to resume the parliamentary debate on the bill where it had interrupted last June due to dissolution.
« Commitments on the texts must be respected in order to legislate. At the end of life, I asked that the calendar be maintained for the weeks of February 3 and 10 », once again insisted the president of the upper house, Yaël Braun-Pivet, on December 17 on France Info. But will it be followed this time by the new tenant of Matignon?
A vision of life inspired by Catholicism
Out of personal conviction, François Bayrou, 73, is hostile to the idea of opening the right to assistance in dying, whether it is euthanasia or assisted suicide. A position which is anchored in a vision of life and death largely inspired by a Catholic faith that the politician has never hidden without brandishing it as a standard.
«The center of what I believe are the first words of the Gospel of Saint John. The Word became flesh and pitched his tent among us”he confessed in 2012 to World of religions. This conception of “preciousness of life” that must be defended “until the threshold where she goes”he reaffirmed it in May 2023 in an interview given to Figaro at a key moment in the debate on this issue.
A month earlier, the 184 citizens of the End of Life Convention handed President Macron their “recommendations” on the subject. After debating it for three months, three quarters were in favor of active assistance in dying with conditions. In the process, the Head of State asked the government to translate this into a bill before the end of the summer.
Without delay, the president of the Democratic Movement (MoDem), and main ally of the presidential camp, expresses more than intimate reservations against this project presented as the major societal reform of the second five-year term. “We have a law that humanely handles the most critical situations. It is not applied, let’s apply it. But let’s not do a public service to cause death”he warns, insisting on “priority and urgency” that there is a need to network the territory with palliative care units.
Affirm your convictions or make concessions?
In the concert of “progressive” voices which dominate the center and the left, that of the Christian Democratic leader dissents but remains faithful to the commitments made during forty years of political career. Notably in 2005 when he voted for the Leonetti law, which outlawed therapeutic relentlessness, or during his three presidential candidacies – in 2002, 2007 and 2012 –, where he reaffirmed his opposition to euthanasia as “contrary to our values”.
The last campaign also saw him represented – along with Nicolas Sarkozy and Marine Le Pen – on a hospital bed, covered in pipes, under the slogan: “Mr. candidate, should we put you in such a position to change yours on euthanasia? »in a photo montage distributed by the Association for the Right to Die with Dignity (ADMD).
Change in political context
Will the tense political climate and the context of an unobtainable majority which marks his arrival at Matignon cause François Bayrou to deviate from his convictions by leading him to make concessions? “The question is not whether the Prime Minister is for or against assisted dying personally, but whether he is ready to respect the will of a majority of parliamentarians to resume the debate where he had been left. Otherwise, it would be a democratic denial”warns Jonathan Denis, president of the ADMD.
In a press release dated December 13, the French Society for Support and Palliative Care (Sfap) said it welcomed “with satisfaction” the appointment of François Bayrou, hoping that this “marks a decisive step in the strengthening of public policies to guarantee everyone respectful support for life until its end. » But its president Claire Fourcade does not hide her concern: “Such an essential subject must stay away from non-censorship strategies and politicians’ agreements. Human dignity is at stake. »