Theatre: 'Catholic' Prime Minister Challenges Euthanasia in Macron’s Constitutional Council
This will not prevent the law from being adopted, but it will delay its implementation until the highest constitutional authority in France has ruled on its compliance with the Constitution.
Three issues may receive particular scrutiny:
- The waiting period until death: Whether a minimum waiting period of two days between approval and confirmation is adequate for such an irreversible decision.
- Protected adults: Whether people under guardianship or curatorship are sufficiently protected and capable of giving genuine informed consent.
- Conscience clause: Doctors, nurses and healthcare institutions should have sufficient rights to refuse participation.
As prime minister, Lecornu should have stopped this project, as he has done with many others.
President Emmanuel Macron appointed his allies to the Constitutional Council (Jacqueline Gourault in 2022 and as president Richard Ferrand in February 2025).
"Catholic" Lecornu Forever Associated with Euthanasia of Vulnerable People
Lecornu attended a Catholic secondary school and has said that, at around the age of 16, he seriously considered becoming a Benedictine monk. He spent time in discernment with the monks of the Abbey of Saint-Wandrille. Later, he described this as a very personal period in his life.
French media have occasionally referred to him as the 'soldier monk' ('le moine soldat') because of this background and his subsequent military career.
However, Lecornu has not made his Catholic faith a visible part of his political ideology.
Picture: Sébastien Lecornu © wikicommons CC BY-SA, #newsQdwxfjrylo