Assisted dying: Olivier Falorni defends a "solid and balanced" law before the vote in the National Assembly

The text will be submitted to a formal vote by the deputies on Tuesday.

Olivier Falorni, MP for Charente-Maritime and rapporteur for the bill on the right to assisted dying, defended a "solid and balanced" text on franceinfo on Sunday, May 25, as the National Assembly prepares to vote on it in a formal session on Tuesday . "It is solid because it is balanced," he added.

After long hours of debate, the text provides that to be eligible for assisted dying, the patient must meet five cumulative conditions: be an adult, be French, "be suffering from a serious and incurable condition, in an advanced or terminal phase, which is life-threatening" , "present physical or psychological suffering that is resistant to treatment or deemed unbearable" and "be able to express his or her wishes freely and in an informed manner" . The MP insists on the approach that was his at the heart of the discussions: "I have strived, throughout these dozens and dozens and dozens of hours of debate, to find this path of balance that allows access to a new freedom, but a freedom strictly regulated on the basis of rigorously established criteria."

Olivier Falorni also highlights the unprecedented quality of the parliamentary discussions surrounding this sensitive text: "In this assembly, we are accused, often justified, of being incapable of listening to each other, of understanding each other and ultimately of working together on a certain number of subjects that have a transpartisan vocation. In this case, we had a substantive debate, of high quality," far from the excesses of the debates on the Veil law or on Marriage for All. "We had a calm, serene debate on a heavy, difficult subject. We showed the best of what Parliament can produce," he assures.

As for the outcome of the vote, Olivier Falorni is confident: "I don't want to prejudge Tuesday's vote. I sincerely believe there will be a majority. The committee vote was adopted by two-thirds, and the 20 articles were also adopted by a fairly large margin."