The Luxembourg Parliament has voted to legalise euthanasia, becoming the last of the three Benelux states to do so. The grand duchy's 59-seat legislature voted 30-26 for the bill, with three abstentions, after a long day of debate. The bill must be passed in a second reading to become law, but this is now seen as a formality.

In the same session, on 19 February, MPs voted unanimously for an accompanying law to expand palliative care for end-of-life patients. The Christian Social People's Party of Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker opposed the euthanasia bill but it was supported by his Socialist coalition partners and the opposition partners.

After the vote, a spokesman for the Church said: "We have to live with this now. We think this euthanasia law was not necessary. It puts an immense responsibility for the decision on the shoulders of doctors, relatives and patients."

Luxembourg's Archbishop Fernand Franck denounced the bill in December, saying the Belgian and Dutch experience showed an alarming and unstoppable trend towards abuse of the law. "With the taboo about killing disintegrating in our society, there is a danger ... of misuse and social pressure on the ill and the dying." He was also critical of the plan to flank the euthanasia bill with another one on long-term care. "Palliative medicine and euthanasia contradict rather than complement each other," he said.

Socialist MP Lydie Err, one of its sponsors, said: "This bill is not a licence to kill." The other sponsor, Greens MP Jean Huss, said that doctors now helped patients die illegally or sent them to Switzerland for assisted suicide.

Euthanasia will be allowed only if patients have requested it in a living will and two doctors confirm their illnesses are serious and incurable. A national control commission of doctors and civil society representatives will verify each case to ensure the guidelines are respected. As well as Mr Juncker's Christian Democrats, many doctors in the mostly Catholic duchy opposed the measure.

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