Overview
- The Senate’s Social Affairs Committee, which met Wednesday, recast the deputies’ broader “aid to die” plan into a tightly limited “medical assistance to die” for patients judged to be near death in the very short term.
- Rapporteurs Alain Milon and Christine Bonfanti-Dossat framed the change as care “for those who are going to die and not those who want to die,” signaling access could be restricted to cases measured in days.
- The companion bill on palliative care cleared the committee without changes, which positions it for possible final adoption in mid‑May if the full Senate votes an identical text.
- Outcome in the upper house remains uncertain because the right and center majority is split, with figures such as LR leader Bruno Retailleau rejecting any euthanasia or assisted suicide ahead of the May 11–13 debates.
- Deputies in the National Assembly have twice backed a broader right, and if the chambers cannot agree the government can route the process so the Assembly’s version prevails, with the Élysée still targeting entry into force before the July recess after delays from the 2024 dissolution and the fall of François Bayrou’s government.