Euthanasia could easily become an EU topic, study group warns
European Parliament in Strasbourg. Photo AFP, Frederick Florin
European Union
Supporters of euthanasia can push the European Union to harmonise legislation among the member states on this issue. By doing that, euthanasia can become an EU policy.
Stay up to date with Christian news in Europe? Sign up for CNE's newsletter.
This is a warning in the recent report The case against euthanasia in Europe from conservative think tank MCC Brussels.
Harmonisation of legislation has been one of the cornerstones of the European Union. Significant parts of the EU integration were just a matter of harmonising the different rules in the member states. This was the simplest way of reaching common goals. From that perspective, it seems self-evident that supporters of euthanasia are seeking in this direction.
Harmonisation is also a favourable tool because it gives equal rights to citizens in all 27 EU member states. That “equal rights” argument is powerful enough to bring about long-term change.
At this moment, euthanasia is (partly) legal in eight member states. Another eight member states are officially debating it. In the rest, there is no official debate. No more than ten (of the total 27) countries could be said to be firmly against euthanasia. Only the Czech Republic has persistently rejected attempts for legalisation three times.
Ethics
Until now, the European Commission has always said that healthcare –including medical ethics– is a national matter that falls under the jurisdiction of the member states. However, the report asks whether it is possible to maintain this answer if the logic is going in another direction.
Part of the practical logic is the cross-border recognition of wills and euthanasia declarations. Those declarations are not the same as euthanasia legislation. It is just an acknowledgement that the EU is a legal union that gives people the same legal protection everywhere. Those directives only require an EU database.
But by doing that, the EU is, in a way, facilitating euthanasia and, therefore, lowering the threshold for this. The same applies to a European Citizens’ Assembly –for which it has been asked– that this does not legalise anything, but it would make euthanasia at least “an option to reflect upon”.
Also, regarding matters of marriage and family legislation, cross-border legislation is a favoured instrument for making progress in a liberal direction.
Until now, euthanasia has been a strict national issue. In 2024, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) concluded that there is “no basis for concluding that the member states are (...) required to provide access to” euthanasia or physician-assisted dying. The court said this in response to a request from a Hungarian lawyer, Daniel Karsai, who stated that the criminalisation of euthanasia violates the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).
Bureaucracy
The author of the MCC report, Ashley Frawley, sees that in the eight EU countries in which euthanasia is (partly) legalised, the phenomenon has become a bureaucratic issue more than a matter of personal autonomy. The ‘process’ of dying requires certain conditions, which brings in an administrative world that has nothing to do with autonomy.
She also comes to other conclusions, namely:
Euthanasia is a language game: It is discussed euphemistically, with phrases such as “death with dignity”.
There is a foot-in-the-door strategy: Euthanasia starts with the promise that legalisation will be strictly limited with stringent safeguards to prevent abuse. But later, new groups and situations are added, with the result that euthanasia becomes routine. That means that physician-assisted dying is normalised, and suicide is destigmatised.
Euthanasia devalues human life: The legal option to do this makes it difficult to defend that the state has the solemn duty to protect life and that citizens may expect this from the state. This erodes the value of human life as a cornerstone of democracy. The author recommends that heavy things like suicide remain a taboo.
Related Articles
