France’s end-of-life bill hangs in balance after Macron dissolved parliament

French President Emmanuel Macron’s surprise announcement on Sunday evening (June 9) that he was dissolving the National Assembly and calling early parliamentary elections has put a halt to debates on the long-awaited end-of-life bill.   

Macron dissolved the National Assembly on Sunday evening after the dismal result of his party’s Besoin d’Europe in the European elections (14.5%) against the far-right Rassemblement national (31.5%). 

Early parliamentary elections are scheduled for 30 June and 7 July. In the meantime, all work at the parliament’s Palais Bourbon has been suspended, including the government’s end-of-life bill, which began parliamentary proceedings on 27 May. 

In an interview with Franceinfo on Monday (10 June) the president of the pro-end-of-life group Association pour le droit de mourir (ADMD), Jonathan Denis, called on political party leaders to commit to continuing the debates in the next legislature

Olivier Falorni (Modem et Indépendants), one of the rapporteurs for the end-of-life bill, posted on X that he was “sad to see the end-of-life law abruptly halted”.

If the Rassemblement national (RN) comes out on top in July’s legislative elections, its lead candidate for the European elections, Jordan Bardella, will become prime minister and the end-of-life bill is highly unlikely to return to the parliamentary agenda as the majority of far-right MPs are hostile to the text.

“Very clearly, if the Rassemblement national obtains a majority of seats on 7 July, we can forget about the end-of-life text,” Falorni told Libération.   

RN deputy Laure Lavalette sparked controversy in parliament on 3 June when she declared: “By making people believe that you respect the ultimate freedom, you are trampling on suicide prevention policy.”

“Know that because of your law, you are going to put in place a law that will kill,” she added.

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]

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