The 16,000 signatures collected in Piedmont for the regional popular initiative bill by the Luca Coscioni Association, 'Liberi subito' (Free immediately), to regulate assisted voluntary death, have arrived at the Regional Council to be filed. "Thanks to 16,000 people," said Marco Cappato, "this Regional Council is being given a new opportunity – the chance to fulfil the duties of institutions for the sake of their credibility. These 16,000 signatures say that the moment for responsibility has come; they ask the Council to take on the responsibility of deciding, one way or another, because the management of healthcare is a regional competence." "Those who are against this law," he added, "do not spend a single word arguing against the substance of this law. It is not a yes or no to euthanasia – it is an assumption of responsibility to ensure that rules that already exist are upheld, and I hope that the Region will decide, that there can be a genuine debate on this text, not on the ghosts that are stirred up whenever this topic is discussed." Davide Di Mauro of the Coscioni Cell in Turin then recalled that "in 2024 this door had been slammed in the face of citizens who had already collected signatures, but we were right. We went back to collect signatures – 8,000 were needed and we collected 16,000, including those of 41 mayors. We start again from this door; we want Piedmont to be the fifth region to legislate on end of life. This is a cross-party bill that does not concern political parties but the people who are suffering."