End of life: what are the positions of the main political parties?

A proposal that isn't so consensual. The end-of-life bill is being debated in the National Assembly starting this Monday, May 12th. Two texts are being examined by the deputies, one on palliative care, the other on "assisted dying." Here are the positions defended by the main political parties.

On the far right, however, the National Rally is not in favor of the current text on "assisted dying." Sébastien Chenu, vice-president of the National Rally and member of parliament for the North, announced on France 2 that he wants to "vote for a text facilitating the end of life in a chosen context, but not just any context."

He also reiterated that RN MPs were free to vote on this text. Marine Le Pen had already stated in 2024, before the dissolution, that she would not give voting instructions on this subject. The president of the National Rally had, however, stated that she hoped to "convince" her MPs to vote against it.

The Republicans are also rather opposed to "assisted dying." Seven LR deputies, including emergency physician Philippe Juvin, criticized in an op-ed in Le Figaro a text on "assisted dying" that does not provide enough "safeguards" and that would mark a "major anthropological rupture."

On the government coalition side, La République en Marche and Les Républicains are divided on the issue of "assisted dying." Government spokesperson Sophie Primas, from Les Républicains (LR), has expressed reservations about "assisted dying." Interviewed on RTL, she said she "did not know what she would vote for" if she were still a senator and referred to the platform of a "collective of doctors and healthcare workers who are calling for the rejection of this text on the end of life," published in the newspaper L'Humanité.

Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau has taken a stand against the bill, deeming the text "deeply unbalanced." "If it were passed as it stands, it would become easier to ask for death than to be treated," the LR minister denounced, speaking of a text that "is one of renunciation, of abandonment."

On the other hand, Catherine Vautrin, Minister of Health and former member of the Republicans, "thinks exactly the opposite" to her colleague from the Interior Ministry . Interviewed on BFMTV-RMC, she defended the text on "assisted dying" being examined in the chamber.

Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin also expressed "fairly profound disagreement" with Bruno Retailleau , stating that he was "very much in favour" of the creation of assisted dying.

Former Prime Minister and current president of the LREM group in the National Assembly, Gabriel Attal, also declared himself in favor of "assisted dying" in an article published alongside actress Line Renaud in La Tribune Dimanche .

Emmanuel Macron, for his part, recently took a position during a speech before the Grand Lodge of France, calling for the debate not to be "reduced" to an opposition for or against life but to ask the question of the "lesser evil" .

François Bayrou, president of the Modem party, has not hidden his reservations about the creation of "assisted dying" since his appointment to Matignon. While saying he is not "blind" because "there are cases of suffering and despair that no one can ignore," the Prime Minister affirmed that he is "spontaneously on the side of care and the defense of life" in an interview with the JDD .

The text currently being presented to the Assembly was, however, drafted by a Modem MP. Olivier Falorni, who has been raising the issue of "assisted dying" for several years , believes that the text proposes "a balanced and "extremely regulated" law and is naturally in favor of its adoption.

On the left, most MPs are in favour of creating "assisted dying". In the Socialist Party, many figures from the Socialist Party, alongside figures from LREM, signed a call in favour of a single text on the end of life, published in January in the pages of Le Parisien .

The Europe Ecology The Greens party has also positioned itself in favor of "assisted dying." This position was recently reaffirmed and has long been defended. In 2015, Green Party MP Véronique Massonneau had already tabled a bill to legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide, which was rejected.

Among the personalities who are most committed to the subject, Sandrine Rousseau notably recounted having helped her mother, who had cancer, to die .

Jean-Luc Mélenchon believes that "assisted dying" is a "fundamental freedom" and advocates for this freedom to be enshrined in the Constitution. "Since 2012, La France Insoumise has championed the right to die with dignity and access to palliative care," states a statement from the political party .

The rebellious MP Caroline Fiat, elected in 2017, is also committed to the legalization of active assistance in dying . A nurse by profession, Caroline Fiat presented a bill on the legalization of euthanasia and assisted suicide in 2018, which was not adopted.