French President Macron wants a citizens' convention on end-of-life issues

“I will submit the end of life to a citizens’ convention,” announced Macron, seeking a second term, on 17 March. “Based on the conclusions of this, I will submit to the national representation or to the people the choice to go to the end of the path that will be recommended.”

The announcement is not a surprise to the French newspaper La Croix, as the idea had already been mentioned in an interview with La Provence in September. At the time, an observer confirmed to La Croix: “On bioethics, there is a clear desire of Emmanuel Macron to involve civil society in the debate. Because it is a way of taking the temperature and building a consensus.” During his speech, the president reiterated that he wanted a “calm debate”.

Comme nous le proposons dans notre programme (prop. 14), @EmmanuelMacron propose un débat "apaisé" sur la #Findevie. Nous serons au rendez-vous pour témoigner de notre quotidien d'acteurs de terrain des soins palliatifs. Retrouvez toutes nos proposition⬇️https://t.co/Uf5IqUT1eb

— SFAP SoinsPalliatifs (@asso_SFAP) March 17, 2022

“We will be there”, warned on Twitter, the French organisation for accompaniment and palliative care SFAP, recalling that the organisation of a “calm debate”, to avoid “simplification and radicalisation” of the points of view, was precisely among its 15 proposals, earlier this month, to question the presidential candidates.

Jonathan Denis, president of the association for the right to die with dignity ADMD, considers the convention “a waste of time”. According to him, public opinion is known; “the French are in favour of a chosen end of life.”

Koran

The consensus on the subject is not so clear-cut. “Polls always show an overwhelming majority favouring euthanasia or assisted suicide. But the questions are always biased, leaving a binary choice: to suffer or to die”, says Erwan Le Morhedec, author of the book Fin de vie en République (End of life in the Republic).

Denis is not against a citizens’ convention provided that the conclusions are “taken into account”, says the president of ADMD. This is not what “the last exercises of this type, carried out during the five-year term (of president Macron, ed.), suggest”, notes Erwan Le Morhedec. As an example, he mentions the last citizens’ convention on climate.”

When it was launched in October 2019, Macron announced that he would pass on its conclusions “without a filter”. However, a few months later, the verdict was in: “There are 150 citizens, I respect them, but I’m not going to say: what they propose is the Bible or the Koran”, he said, and finally only took up part of the recommendations.

Citizens’ debates and conventions are only political skills, conclude Jonathan Denis and Erwan Le Morhedec, agreeing on that point. “It’s a way of diluting responsibility by saying: ‘It’s not me, it’s them’,” says Erwan Le Morhedec.