The likely fall of prime minister François Bayrou exposes a political malaise that is likely to sour French politics well beyond the 2027 presidential election as the far right exploits the moment
As the French government faces likely collapse in a confidence vote on Monday, plunging the eurozone’s second biggest economy and key diplomatic power into a domestic political crisis, Jonathan Denis, a 42-year-old a bank manager and health rights campaigner, was concerned about the terrible impact it will have on France’s dying and terminally ill.
The centrist president Emmanuel Macron had promised assisted dying and improved palliative care would be the biggest social reform of his second term but the bill, which had been scheduled to go before the senate next month, now risks being delayed once more by the unpredictable revolving door of four prime ministers in just over three years.
“Sick people who are suffering and want a form of assisted dying because they can’t cope, will find this catastrophic – if they have the money, they’ll have to travel to Switzerland, if they’re physically able, they’ll go to Belgium or people will violently take their lives, which unfortunately is often the case in France,” Denis said.
