First published Il sole 24 ore – by Davide Madeddu 21 November 2025
The law on the end of life approved last September by the Regional Council of Sardinia has been challenged. The presidency of the Council of Ministers has decided to proceed against rule number 26 of 18 September 2025 ‘on “Procedures and timeframes for regional health assistance to medically assisted suicide pursuant to and as a result of Constitutional Court ruling No. 242 of 2019″‘.
The Government’s Motivation
According to the Government, Law 26 ‘in its entirety, absolutely exceeds the regional competences, exceeding the statutory competences, and infringes the exclusive competences of the State in matters of civil and criminal law and the determination of the essential levels of the services concerning civil and social rights, as well as the division of competences in matters of health protection, violating Article 117, second paragraph, letters l) and m), and third paragraph, of the Constitution’.
The rule had been approved by the regional legislative assembly with 32 votes in favour, 19 against and one abstention. The go-ahead came after a two-day debate in which divisions had emerged between the two sides and also between the two components in both the majority and the opposition. Voting against was a regional councillor from the centre left, while one from Forza Italia was in favour.
The envisaged procedures
The challenged law, as underlined after its approval, aims to apply procedures on the timing of healthcare assistance to medically assisted suicide as a result of the Consulta’s 2019 ruling. The measure now at the centre of the clash between the government and the region guarantees free healthcare to those who, suffering from an irreversible pathology and dependent on life-sustaining treatment, autonomously and consciously choose to access medically assisted suicide, but the conditions will have to be verified by a multidisciplinary commission and the territorially competent ethics committee composed of a doctor specialising in palliative care, a neurologist and a psychiatrist as well as an anaesthetist. And then a psychologist and a nurse.
The reactions
Immediate reactions. “I am not surprised by the government’s decision,’ Piero Comandini, president of the regional council, commented, ‘because I knew what the position was, but I think it has missed an opportunity to give an important answer of great civilisation on the end of life. Sabina Licheri, senator of the 5 Star Movement, points the finger at Fdi: “Instead of getting down to work, belly to belly, on the end-of-life issue stopped in the Senate, she attacks the Todde junta that has tackled such a sensitive and delicate issue to give citizens a choice”. For Silvio Lai, secretary of the Democratic Party and Dem deputy, ‘the decision of the Council of Ministers to challenge the end-of-life law approved by the Regional Council of Sardinia is a serious act that goes beyond institutional conflict’. “It is as if the Meloni government were claiming to decide how each of us should live and die, denying people the fundamental right to self-determination and dignity in the last moments of their lives,” he concludes. “The Sardinian law is the result of a serious, shared path, respectful of the Constitutional Court rulings and of the lines already drawn in several regions. It does not replace the State, it does not create new rights, but guarantees procedures and protections to prevent citizens and families from suffering institutional neglect’.
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