FRANCE – President Macron continues his tactical manoeuvres – Encouraging signs from Strasbourg
21 November 2023
President Emmanuel Macron keeps promising the people of France the legalisation of assisted dying with an extremely ambitious “projet des loi” while letting a lot of time go by. At the same time, the French government will have to take a stand on the applications filed by 31 French residents at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).
The legalisation of some form of voluntary assisted dying (assisted suicide and/or voluntary euthanasia) was one of President Emmanuel Macron’s campaign promises when he ran for a second term in office. A large majority of the population in France has wanted this for a long time and the “Convention citoyenne sur la fin de vie”, a citizens’ convention which dealt with end-of-life issues on behalf of the French state from December 2022 to March 2023, clearly confirmed this. Nevertheless, it does not look as if the election promise will be kept.
Lots of activity, hardly any progress
The “Convention citoyenne”, a new and professionally organised instrument of citizen participation for broad debate and opinion-forming on particularly relevant social issues, has enabled a (further) well-founded debate on self-determination at the end of life. However, the recommendations made by this committee in a report to the government in spring 2023, in favour of legalising voluntary assisted dying (assisted suicide and/or voluntary euthanasia), are in no way binding. Macron held out the prospect of a law by summer 2023 and tasked Agnès Firmin le Bodo, who is a delegated minister in the Ministry of Health responsible, among other things, for prevention and health professions, with drawing up the base for a draft law.
This “projet de loi” should not only provide for options for a self-determined end of life, but also contain provisions for the better implementation of existing laws in the areas of palliative care and living wills. The combination of these topics caused additional resistance from the ranks of opposing professional associations, lobby organisations and parliamentary representatives, who were consulted as part of the “projet de loi” and whose interests and views diverge greatly. The procedure also met criticism in Parliament, as the drafting of a bill was not directly entrusted to it.
The extremely ambitious endeavour to outline solutions acceptable to all parties involved has – unsurprisingly – made only slow progress, and the presentation of the “projet de loi” to the government has already been postponed several times, among other things – and quite officially! – due to the Pope’s visit to Marseille in September. It is now scheduled for December 2023.
Little chance of success for a draft law
Regardless of the timetable, the chances of success for any kind of draft legislation are still slim. Even if parliament deals with a legislative proposal in the coming year, it is to be expected that numerous substantive amendments will be made. Moreover, given the current political majorities, a legislative proposal is likely to either fail from the outset due to resistance from conservative circles, or it will be so narrowly formulated that only few people would be able to exercise their right at all. Developments in other countries show that it also takes time to establish structures and processes for the effective implementation of new provisions – particularly in an area such as voluntary assisted dying, where France lacks any relevant practical experience.
Specific details on the proposed provisions on voluntary assisted dying are not yet available. According to reports, access to voluntary assisted dying would be linked, among other things, to the condition that the person concerned was predicted to have a maximum life expectancy of 6-12 months. This would mean that many seriously ill people would a priori be denied access to a self-determined, safe, and professionally assisted end of life, and would be denied the human right to choose time and manner of their own end of life and the help they need for this. A law would therefore deprive them of the very freedom that it should guarantee.
Encouraging signs from Strasbourg
The proceedings coordinated by DIGNITAS at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg have cleared an important hurdle. In the case ”A. and others v. FRANCE“ filed on 28 April 2023 [1], the ECtHR decided on 4 September 2023 to communicate to the French government the applications by 31 individuals residing in France. The Court’s decision to continue the proceedings initiated by DIGNITAS against the French state is an important milestone and a sign from Strasbourg that France should finally guarantee its citizens the (human) right to a self-determined end of life. This is all the more remarkable given that only between 5 and 10% of applications against the French state are considered relevant by the ECtHR.
In the case ”A. and others v. FRANCE“, the applicants, invoking Articles 2, 3, 8 and 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights, complain of a violation of their right to life, their right not to be subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment, their right to personal autonomy, and their right to freedom of thought and conscience, resulting from the absence in French law of appropriate and sufficient guarantees concerning the right of each person to end their own life at a time of their choosing, consciously, freely and with dignity.
The decision of the ECtHR in the currently pending case “Karsai v. HUNGARY” is also likely to set a precedent for self-determination over one’s own end of life in Europe. A man suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) living in Hungary filed a complaint against the Hungarian state in Strasbourg at the beginning of August 2023 because Hungarian law does not allow him to end his life in a self-determined, safe, and accompanied manner. Due to the applicant’s state of health, the ECtHR has decided to deal with the case as a matter of priority; a hearing will take place on 28 November 2023 [2]. DIGNITAS has submitted a written opinion on this case to the ECtHR.
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[1] see DIGNITAS press release of 25 September 2023
[2] see press release of the ECtHR of 26 September 2023
