The deputies do not intend to stay away from the great debate on the end of life, announced by Emmanuel Macron on September 13th. Initiated by Fadila Khattabi, Renaissance deputy for Côte-d’Or and president of the social affairs commission, an evaluation mission of the 2016 law known as Claeys-Leonetti must be officially launched this Thursday, November 17.
It will bring together 19 members of the various groups represented in the National Assembly. They will work until March on the way in which this law which governs the end of life of incurable patients in France is put in place, to what extent it is adapted or not to the different situations and the knowledge that the French have of it. .
“This cross-party mission will carry out its work in parallel with the Citizens’ Convention wanted by the president and the consultations led by the two ministers Olivier Véran and Agnès Firmin Le Bodo. It seemed natural to us that the Assembly take its full part in this debate. Before considering a change in the law on such a sensitive and intimate subject, it is essential to assess what already exists”explains Fadila Khattabi to The cross.
A report by the Court of Auditors on palliative care
The president of the social affairs committee has also commissioned a report on palliative care from the Court of Auditors which should be submitted to deputies in May or June 2023. “This will be an opportunity to have a precise inventory of the ‘holes in the racket’ in the organization of this care, the cost that this represents for public finances, but also to establish a comparative study with what happening in other European countries”she says.
The idea of an evaluation mission of the Claeys-Leonetti law is not new. Fadila Khattabi had already proposed it in the spring of 2021, after the aborted discussion in the Assembly on the bill by deputy Olivier Falorni (PS, Charente-Maritime) “for a free and chosen end of life”. It is resurfacing today as the Citizens’ Convention, which begins its work on December 9, will have until March 2023 to make its recommendations to the government on the possible legalization of a “medical assistance in dying”.
This is also the time when the 19 members of the mission will have to give their conclusions. For now, its composition remains to be finalized. It will include three Renaissance deputies, three from the RN, two each for LFI, LR and the MoDem, and one each for the PS, Horizons, Ecology, Democratic and Republican Left and Freedoms and Territories. On Wednesday 16 November, some political groups had still not appointed their representatives, which could delay the launch of operations by a few days, starting with the adoption of a method and a work schedule.
This possible postponement does not worry Fadila Khattabi any more than that. “The deputies have been very mobilized lately on the public finance bill, but all are unanimously convinced of the importance of the end-of-life subject.she argues. We will be there to shed light on this complex and crucial debate. »