Watch: It will take 'months' to go through euthanasia feedback, says PM

It is too early to discuss whether or not MPs will be given a free vote on legalising euthanasia, Robert Abela has said, as it will be “months” before any such bill can be drafted.

The Prime Minister said it will take considerable time to assess the public’s feedback to the proposals and that he does not want the process to be rushed.

Doing so “would be a big disrespect to the 15,000 submissions made during the public consultation process,” Abela said, adding that he now gives more importance to public consultations than he once did. 

"I've learned from that mistake," he said. "Just as the public took this consultation seriously, we need to be equally serious in analysing their feedback."

Junior Minister Rebecca Buttigieg, who piloted the reform proposal and public consultation process, told Malta Today that while it was still early days, in principle she would like any eventual euthanasia bill to be opened to a free vote among MPs.

While the Labour government has made it clear it is broadly in favour of legalising voluntary assisted euthanasia and Robert Abela has vowed to legislate to that effect, the Nationalist Party has not adopted any clear stance on the issue.

The government proposal, which was opened to an eight-week public consultation, is to allow people who have been diagnosed as terminally ill and given less than six months to live the option of ending their lives.

Such requests would have to be approved by two separate expert panels and would be subject to a one-week cooling-off period. Suggesting euthanasia to a patient would become a criminal offence.

The proposal has been endorsed by the nurses’ union but faced objections from the doctors’ union and the Church.