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The Social Affairs Commission had debated and voted for the bill, but it has now been blocked by 3,000 amendments.
A proposal to legalise assisted dying for people with incurable diseases has been blocked in the French parliament, largely by five opposition party MPs.
The MPs from the opposition party Les Républicains submitted 2,158 amendments to the bill, of a total of 3,000. This means the proposal is very unlikely to be adopted as planned on Thursday April 8.
MP Olivier Falorni, who submitted the bill, denounced the move as an “obstruction” by a “handful of MPs” to the debate “of a major social subject”.
The bill states it is aiming to offer “the right to a free and chosen end of life”. But, as it would effectively legalise voluntary euthanasia for people with incurable diseases, it is controversial.
Such a large number of amendments to the bill mean
that - if each amendment is to be discussed properly - it will be
impossible to pass the proposal in a single day, delaying its adoption.