Senate fails to start examining assisted suicide bill

(ANSA) - ROME, MAR 26 - The Senate failed to begin examination of proposed new assisted suicide legislation as scheduled on Tuesday due to a no-show from the government.
    Members of the Justice and Social Affairs committees received notification that the meeting set up to illustrate the proposals had been cancelled after a government representative failed to turn up. "We are disappointed," said Alfredo Bazoli, centre-left opposition Democratic Party (PD) caucus leader in the Justice Committee and a proponent of one of the bills.
    "It is clear there is a political problem, given that (the presence of) any undersecretary is sufficient to frame a proposal," he added.
    Earlier this month Bazoli announced that "at last parliament will return to debating a piece of legislation that is necessary and can no longer be postponed, guaranteeing uniformity of treatment and conditions in line with the indications of the Constitutional Court".
    The reference is to the Constitutional Court's 2019 so-called 'Cappato ruling', named after right-to-die campaigner Marco Cappato, making assisted suicide permissible in Italy in some circumstances.
    Since then some regions such as Veneto have introduced regional legislation regulating the provision of assisted suicide for citizens living on their territories amid ongoing controversy and debate over the issue in the absence of a national framework law.
    "I hope for a serious and constructive confrontation that can lead to a noble and shared summary document on a subject that needs an inclusive, sensitive and dialoguing approach," concluded Bazoli. (ANSA).