Switzerland" "
In an open letter published on 4 March, Msgr. Amédée Grab, president of the Swiss Episcopal Conference, appealed to the members of the European Parliament in Brussels, who are about to discuss the so-called Marty Report on euthanasia. As “part of the universal Catholic Church and in the context of their participation in the European structures through the Council of the Episcopal Conferences of Europe”, the Swiss bishops wish “to point out the far-reaching consequences and responsibilities” linked to the decision of MEPs on this question. According to Bishop Grab, the Marty Report “contradicts recommendation 1418 (of 1999) on human rights and the dignity of the gravely and terminally ill and opens the door to the introduction of legislation that would legalize euthanasia in the member states of the Council of Europe”. The bishops also emphasise that “the apparent human solution of achieving the end of pain and suffering through legally assisted suicide is highly contradictory”, since “it subjects the disabled, chronically sick, terminally ill, elderly and fragile to the enormous pressure of not becoming a burden for society and of bowing to a general practice”: this, the bishops argue, is already apparent in the Dutch experience. Attacking this position, the bishops urge MEPs to reject the Marty Report and to “eliminate as far as possible the problems and sufferings and not the sick and the dying”. The letter enumerates the various provisions and decisions of the major European institutions that prescribe respect for human dignity and that prohibit euthanasia. “For these reasons” says the letter “and in their great concern to ensure the safeguard and respect of the right to life also in extreme situations, the Swiss bishops ask that the objectives of recommendation 1418 (1999) be defended before the European Parliament”.
