BELGIUM: Pirate Party endorses basic income

Following the lead of Pirate Parties in other countries, the Belgian Pirate Party has endorsed a basic income of 1,500 Euros per month. Pirate parties support civil rights, direct democracy, and participation in government. Their name derives from their support of the reform of copyright and patent law, free sharing of knowledge (open content), information privacy, transparency, freedom of information and network neutrality. The Belgian Pirate Party will take part in national elections for the first time this May.

For more information see:

Expatica, “1,500 euro basic income for all.Expatica, 07/April/2014.

Colin Clapson, “1,500 euro basic income for all.Flanders News, 06/April/2014.

-Flanders News

-Flanders News

Tanja Milevska, “Van Parijs: An unconditional basic income in Europe will help end the crisis [Interview].”

SUMMARY: Philippe Van Parijs is a Belgian philosopher and professor at the Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL). He talked to EurActiv’s Tanja Milevska. In this interview given after the conference on the “Unconditional Basic Income” (UBI) organised in the European Economic and Social Committee, Van Parijs argued that the EU should put in place such a basic income for all of its citizens, to help it escape the crisis, and to show that it is a community that “cares” for all its members.

Tanja Milevska, “Van Parijs: An unconditional basic income in Europe will help end the crisis [Interview].EurActiv, 11/04/2014.

”]Van Parijs at a promotion of the unconditional basic income initiative [Flickr]

Basic income makes the headlines in Belgium

On October 25, 2013, basic income made the front page of the Flemish left-of-centre daily De Morgen. The article referred to a new book authored by Peter De Keyzer, a chief economist at the bank BNP Paribas Fortis in Brussels. In his book, entitled “Growth makes happy”, De Keyzer advocates the implementation of a substantial basic income of EUR1,000 per month in Belgium, and the suppression of several existing benefits (such as pensions and social assistance). The article also includes an interview with Evelyn Forget (University of Manitoba) about the Canadian BI experiments in the 1970s, as well as with Philippe Van Parijs (Louvain University). According to Van Parijs, “In Europe, the idea of a basic income has never been so lively than these days”. The President of the Flemish Green Party, Wouter Van Besien, criticizes the proposal made by De Keyzer, as it would- he argues – lead to more inequality and more poverty. The editorial of De Morgen, by Bart Eeckhout, is also entirely devoted to basic income. It is entitled “Basic income is worth a discussion”.

The editorial by Bart Eeckhout can be read online (although its title is different from the printed version). The article itself is not available online.

Philippe Van Parijs defends basic income on Belgian TV

On Tuesday 15 October 2013, Philippe Van Parijs (Louvain University) took part in a popular TV show on Belgium French-speaking TV channel RTBf. He had no more than 3 minutes to argue in favour of basic income, and reply to various questions about its feasibility. In his introduction to the debate, the front person refered to the Swiss initiative on basic income.

The video (in French) can bee seen here. Go to 13:54 to view the discussion with Van Parijs.

Francine Mestrum, "Basic income: a solution?"

In this opinion piece (in Dutch) published on 27 August 2013 by www.dewereldmorgen.be, Francine Mestrum (a lecturer in social sciences in Antwerp, Belgium) scrutinizes the pros and cons of a basic income. In the end, she remains quite skeptical, as she stresses the fact that some basic income supporters are neoliberals opposing labour unions. She is aware of the fact that progressives also defend it, but insists that their own versions of basic income are not convincing enough.

The piece (in Dutch) is available here.