Emmanuel Macron backs ‘end of life’ bill, aims for parliament debate in May

“It does not, strictly speaking, create a new right nor a freedom, but it traces a path which did not exist until now and which opens the possibility of requesting help in dying under certain strict conditions,” he said.

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Macron said those conditions would need to be met and a medical team would assess and ensure the criteria for the decision was correct.

It would concern only adults capable of making the decision and whose life prognosis is threatened in the medium-term such as final-stage cancer, he said.

Family members would also be able to appeal the decision, Macron said.

The bill builds on the work of a group of 184 randomly appointed French citizens who debated the issue.

They concluded their work last year with 76 per cent of them saying they favoured allowing some form of help to die, for those who want it.

Macron has sought to bolster his image as a social reformer just three months before June’s European parliamentary elections. His party is more than 10 points behind the far-right Rassemblement National in polls.