Fileenws3 June 2025 - by Marilena Panagi
The proposal for a law that provides for the right to medically assisted death, more simply euthanasia, is put on hold, since both the balances between the parties and the positions of the representatives of the bodies involved during yesterday's meeting of the parliamentary committee on Human Rights, tipped the scales, for the time being, towards palliative care and the passage of the relevant legislation.
The discussion was admittedly intense and there was certainly no shortage of high-pitched dialogues (between Irene Charalambidou and Alexandra Attalidou with representatives of institutions) on religion, the spiritual aspect and the rights to a dignified life or a dignified death.
The President of the Committee, Irene Charalambidou, strongly supporting the right, as she has said several times, to a dignified death and after about three hours of debate and while she had initially stated that "the bill will go to the Plenary for a vote even if it will only get a positive vote, mine", informed shortly before the end of the session that her decision is to give time to be submitted to the Parliament and to be voted into law a bill for the provision of palliative care with the aim of bringing it back to the Plenary for submission of the proposal for a law on euthanasia after January 2026.
DISY and DIKO opposed the proposed law which, as was clarified yesterday, is signed only by Mrs. Charalambidou and not by AKEL, while organized patients, doctors and the National Bioethics Committee put forward the need for the provision of palliative care services and then, as they stressed, a thorough and proper dialogue among all those involved and for medically assisted death.
The Legal Service and the Cyprus Bar Association pointed out that the Charter of Human Rights does not guarantee the right to death but the right to life.
They cited the European Court of Human Rights, which gave states the right to act at will, and stressed that the decision to guarantee the right to medically assisted death is "purely political".
It is noteworthy, however, that for most of the meeting, only the president of the Committee and MP Alexandra Attalidou were present.
As expected, the Church of Cyprus was against the proposal, while the government and the Ministry of Health are also against it. The Minister of Health also sent a letter to the Parliament, describing as "premature and socially unbalanced the passage of the bill" regarding the choice of ending life, "especially when conditions of decent living have not yet been ensured".
In his letter, Michalis Damianos invokes two bills, one of which provides for palliative care and the second for home care.
What does the proposal envisage?
The proposal provides for the right to medically assisted death only for patients whose diagnosis is conclusive. In other words, there is no visible possibility of survival (it is mainly aimed at cancer patients).
It is also provided that:
– No one can make a decision for another.
– Only the patient who is an adult with sound mind can decide for himself.
– A necessary prerequisite to have a diagnosis of end-stage disease.
– To examine the diagnosis of the terminal stage by a medical board.
– Examine the patient by specialized medical boards (psychologists, psychiatrists to exclude other factors, e.g. depression).
– No doctor or nurse or other health professional will be obliged to participate in such a process.
The position of the parties
DISY MP Rita Superman clarified her party's position, saying that she is against the proposed law.She stressed that "first of all, as a State, we must see the non-existence of structures and services for pain relief. In Cyprus we don't have these services and we certainly can't discuss anything else if this big gap is not filled."
Mrs. Superman's position provoked the reaction of Mrs. Charalambidou, with the two then discussing in high tones. Mrs. Charalambidou pointed out that "DISY for ten years in government did not take care to cover the gap in palliative care".
On behalf of DIKO, Christos Senekis asked to be given specific data on the poll of the National Authority for Bioethics, which Mrs. Charalambidou cited, saying that it emerged that 6 out of 10 citizens are in favour of euthanasia.
"It is one thing for people in their 20s and 30s who feel that they are very far from death to have been asked and answered, and another for older people and, indeed, sick people to have been asked and answered." And Mr. Senekis put forward the need to give priority to covering the gap in palliative care.
AKEL MP Giorgos Koukoumas said that his party does not have a final position since it has not yet met to discuss the issue in detail.
MP Alexandra Attalidou was unreservedly in favour of the proposal. In fact, at several points of the meeting, he came into conflict with representatives of institutions that expressed an opposing opinion.
The position of doctors and patients and the Bioethics Committee
The positions of the Pancyprian Medical Association and the Federation of Cyprus Patients' Associations are identical. Representing the PIS, doctor Michalis Anastasiades said that there is no dogmatic approach to the issue of euthanasia, however, as he said, the medical world prioritizes the right palliative care services, pain relief, proper and complete patient care, for all patients. (ed. in Cyprus, palliative care is provided only to cancer patients on the initiative of voluntary organizations).
The honorary president of OSAK, Marios Kouloumas, who came into confrontation on several occasions with Irene Charalambidou and Alexandra Attalidou, stressed that "we make comparisons with other countries. We make a comparison with England. England has had a health system since 1947, has been providing full palliative care through organised structures since 1967 and has thousands of such facilities, and is now discussing euthanasia. We have nothing and we have started discussing medically assisted suicide."
As for the National Bioethics Commission, which does not reject the right to euthanasia, during yesterday's meeting it was as follows: "First we have to proceed with the passage of legislation that will help to relieve, support, care for patients and their families, and then we could discuss any other possibility, such as the terms and conditions for the performance of medically assisted termination of life".
Movement in favour of euthanasia
"The loss of dignity is the worst thing that can happen to a person," said journalist Giorgos Pavlidis, representing the Movement for Euthanasia.
"The assisted dignified departure of a person, as provided for by the proposed law, does not concern all patients. It concerns those cases of painful end and I do not understand why we are talking about whether there is a guaranteed right or not. Every person has the right to dignity and the State must give the citizen the right to manage his body."