Arthur de Laborde, edited by Juliette Moreau Alvarez 8:43 p.m., September 07, 2022

Emmanuel Macron is making it known more and more: he wants to relaunch the debate on the right to die with dignity.

After having made it a campaign promise, the Head of State intends to set up a citizens' convention in order to bring together all the players involved in the issue.

At the end of the Council of Ministers on Wednesday, Olivier Véran announced the reopening of the debate on euthanasia.

A report from the National Ethics Advisory Committee will be released early next week.

This is the prelude to a consultation, since the Élysée is working on a citizens' convention on the end of life.

For Emmanuel Macron, it is a way of bringing together all the actors involved in this issue.

The method and schedule will therefore be revealed in the coming days.

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A law on euthanasia in 2023?

Reopening this debate was a campaign promise from candidate Emmanuel Macron when he presented his program for 2022. But it was also a promise he had made during his first five-year term, before abandoning it.

This time, he really intends to move forward.

The Head of State is betting that a national debate will make it possible to appease the subject.

If euthanasia has a general consensus on the left, it arouses strong reluctance on the right.

The intentions of the President of the Republic were in any case confirmed on Friday evening at the Élysée, when Emmanuel Macron had raised the actress Line Renaud to the rank of Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor, he had declared: "Your fight for the right to die with dignity resembles you and obliges us. Dictated by kindness, requirement and this unique intuition that this is the moment to do, then we will do."

A bit later.

He even went further by entrusting participants like the deputy Olivier Falorni with his wish to pass a law in 2023. Private statements minimized by the Elysée but which make opponents of euthanasia jump.

They fear that everything will be decided even before the citizens' convention.