by Liam Upton | Jul 13, 2015 | News
Ireland’s Fianna Fáil party will include a commitment to a Basic Income of €230 a week in its manifesto for next year’s general election.
The news was revealed by Fianna Fáil spokesperson for social protection and social equality, Willie O’Dea in an interview with the Sunday Times newspaper. O’Dea said that he will outline the plan in the party’s social protection policy document, which is due to be published in a few week’s time.
This commitment makes Fianna Fáil the most significant party in Ireland to support Basic Income, they are currently the largest opposition party and are usually the third largest party in opinion polls, not far behind those in front. The €230 Fianna Fáil proposal is also higher than that suggested by Social Justice Ireland, who presented a Basic Income affordability study at a BIEN conference in 2012. The Green Party also supports Basic Income but has never campaigned on it nor laid out a concrete proposal.
In terms of costing, the document says that refunding tax credits would be the first step to a Basic Income and that “Any income earned above [the Basic Income] would be taxed at a new single rate.”
The policy document will also outline some of the justification for Basic Income, making a number of criticisms of Ireland’s current taxation and social welfare system, noting that social work such as caring and volunteering go financially unrewarded. It will further mention that “It would promote gender equality, as all forms of ‘work’ are rewarded, not just paid employment.” and that “It would remove poverty traps and unemployment traps, as seeking paid employment or increased income would still be worthwhile.”
The inclusion in Fianna Fáil’s manifesto reflects the increasing political support Basic Income has been receiving worldwide in the last year.
by Stanislas Jourdan | Jul 9, 2015 | News
Announcements from Finland and the Netherlands on the launch of basic income pilots are making ripples across Europe. In France, the Southern Region of Aquitaine might well be the next place where experiments are conducted to assess the viability of basic income.
Last Monday, July 6th, the regional Council based in Bordeaux voted through a motion marking the start of a process towards running basic income pilots in the region.
Despite a heated debate before the vote, the motion proposed by Green Council member Martine Alcorta was passed unanimously. In fact, several political groups opposed the motion, but decided to abstain when it came to a vote (see the video of the plenary here).
The president of the Council, Alain Rousset in particular rejected the proposal, which he believes is “against the work ethic”. But in the end he also stated he “could not oppose generosity”.
The motion was obviously supported by the Greens, but also with enthusiasm by the radical left coalition “Aquitaine Région Citoyenne” and by one right-wing member and deputy mayor of the city of Bordeaux, who explained her position to the online newspaper Rue89:
« I have always been in favour of the thinking around basic income. Many people don’t get by despite the number of benefits and social assistance schemes. We have to simplify everything: both administrative procedures for citizens and the workload for social workers.
Basic income is not an incentive not to work. On the contrary, it reveals people’s capacities once freed from pressures. We have to launch new experiments with a new spirit. We need new proposals, new models from what currently exist, and to think of a new system. »
So far, the adopted motion only commits the Council to start a call for projects to assess the feasibility of basic income pilots in the region. Under french law, such pilots could only be conducted under the direction of a voluntary department (sub-sections of regions in France), with the agreement of the government. The region would only provide financial support.
The initiator of the motion suggests that the pilots should be based on a proposal drafted last March by BIEN’s Affiliate, the French Movement for Basic Income, to reform the existing means-tested minimum income in France, the “Active Solidarity Income” (RSA). Under this proposal, the RSA would be automatically distributed with no work requirement and along with a taxation system more friendly towards part-time workers.
The current system suffers from many flaws. It is complex, discriminatory, household-based, and moreover it discourages people from pursuing paid work – or encourages them to instead pursue undeclared work – because of its threshold effects. Because of this, the RSA is neglected by the very people who need it. The take-up of RSA is only just over 50% of those eligible.
The proposal being pushed forward is certainly not a perfectly unconditional basic income, but it would constitute a solid step in that direction.
“This is a unique and unprecedented decision in France,” said Green local representative Marc Morisset. The Green Party of France has officially supported basic income since November 2013. Its members have been increasingly active in the promotion of the idea. Last February, another Green regional council member in Rhone-Alpes made a similar proposal, but unsuccessfully.
After this historic vote, the next step will be to finance a feasibility study, find a voluntary department and locate possible areas for experiment.
by Stanislas Jourdan | Jul 8, 2015 | News
Following growing interest in the idea of a basic income in the Netherlands over the past year, the feasibility of local pilot projects to investigate basic income is being considered in more than 30 Dutch municipalities.
The City of Utrecht, the fourth most populated City of the Netherlands, has attracted a lot of attention recently – including at an international level – with the early announcement of their launch of a pilot project later this year.
Although the program is far from being ready and its specifics are far less radical than they sound, the good news is: Utrecht might just be the tip of the iceberg of a massive wave of local experiments in the Netherlands.
Currently there are 30 Dutch municipalities interested in running basic income pilot projects. Among them, the cities of Utrecht, Tilburg, Wageningen and Groningen are the most advanced.
These developments are the fruit of many people’s efforts. They are also the outcome of an unprecedented wave of awareness about basic income in the Netherlands, following the broadcast of two Dutch documentaries about basic income.
Sjir Hoeijmakers
Sjir Hoeijmakers, a young econometrician, helps stakeholders interested in experimenting with the idea of a basic income at a local level. He follows up with all interested cities, advises them, and tries to create synergies between them. Hoeijmakers crowdfunded his own ‘basic income’ a few month ago, so he could afford to dedicate himself into the coordination of pilot projects ideas in the Netherlands.
“Most of the people starting these initiatives are looking for an alternative to the current social security system, which is perceived as being based too much on distrust in and control over welfare recipients.” explains Sjir Hoeijmakers. According to him, most of the initiative for local pilots comes from people working inside the municipal administrations, but some also come from academics or are citizens’ initiatives. “What is most interesting and a very good sign is that the initiatives come from people with all kinds of political backgrounds, and are often depoliticized.” .
But what are those experiments about exactly? Despite the media enthusiasm about Utrecht becoming soon “the first city without poverty in Europe”, the reality is of course slightly less utopian.
“Experiments will focus on people already receiving benefits”
The experiments will mostly focus on people who are already welfare claimants in the Netherlands, and particularly beneficiaries of the national minimum income system, which is means-tested and conditional. It is also not paid on an individual basis, but assessed by household.
In fact, those experiments mainly have two major differences with the current system: they aim at making social assistance less conditional regarding work requirements, and will aim at removing the poverty trap by allowing people to earn extra money on top of their social allowance.
However the schemes being considered so far remain household-based, means-tested and therefore non-universal. In fact, these schemes are similar to the concept of negative income tax which in the 1970s, was the basis of experiments in the United States.
“These experiments are not exactly basic income, but they go in that direction” insists Sjir Hoeijmakers. Basic Income Network in the Netherlands agrees too, and regards these initiatives as possible milestones on the path towards a fully unconditional basic income.
This approach has a fundamental advantage: since the target groups are already receiving welfare money, not much extra funding is needed from the existing budget to run these experiments. This would be a different story if all of the city’s residents were included.
“Utrecht is making big plans, but they are not ready yet”
International media outlets such as The Independent and many others have extensively reported on the case of Utrecht, reporting that the experiment could start as early as September. Sjir Hoeijmakers admits to being surprised by how much coverage the city of Utrecht is getting right now.
“The City is making big plans, especially thanks to Alderman Victor Everhardt. The program, however, is just one of many experimental initiatives, and still needs to be authorized by the National Secretary of Social Security” says Sjir Hoeijmakers. According to him, the program will most likely not start before January 2016: ”To be realistic, it could be far later than that, depending on the politics of it.”
Despite the media excitement, the numbers of people and the amounts to be given aren’t fixed yet: there are only approximate numbers up till now, and they don’t necessarily give a good picture of what will be done.
The Utrecht experiment as currently planned, would work with 5 groups, only of which one would get something close to a basic income (no withdrawal if there is extra earned income, no further conditions). A sixth group who stay living under the current welfare system will act as a control group. Each group will have a minimum of 50 people, and the 900 and 1300 euros aren’t exact figures but indications of how much might be paid.
“The city of Utrecht is using the rhetoric of the basic income, which may have contributed to it getting so much attention.” he says. “In some other cases the term Trust Experiment is being used, to avoid confusion with the concept of a full unconditional basic income.”
Several political parties openly support the experiments, including the green-left, the liberal-democrats, and some among the labor and the socialist parties.
by BIEN Finland | Apr 25, 2015 | News
52,5% of newly elected members of the Finnish Parliament support the idea of basic income, BIEN Finland says.
52,5 % of the new Finnish members of parliament agree fully or partially with the concept of basic income, Finland’s Basic Income Network (BIEN Finland) concluded after reviewing the pre-election poll conducted by the national broadcasting company YLE. The poll asked MP candidates if they agreed on this statement: “Finland should implement a basic income scheme that would replace the current minimum level of social security.”
30 MPs were in full agreement with the statement while 75 MPs agreed partially with it. Only 18 fully disagreed with it and six did not reply. Basic income supporters can be found in all parliamentary groups.
In the agrarian centre-right Centre Party, which just won the general elections held 19 April, five MPs of all 49 fully agreed with the statement and 35 partially agreed with it. Within the nationalist Finns party, which is currently the second largest party with 38 seats, one MP fully agreed and 21 partially agreed with the statement. All 15 MPs from the Green League, which became the fifth largest party after gaining five new seats, agreed with the statement. In the Left Alliance, which after losing two seats is the sixth largest party, eight MPs fully agreed with the statement and the remaining four partially agreed with it.
The Centre Party has proposed regional basic income pilots but it does not have a clear stance on the issue as such. The party has also expressed willingness to cut the Finnish public sector by 2,3 billion euros. The government-forming negotiations have already begun and the new government is expected to take office in early May. If the Greens enter the new government with the Centre Party the experiments would become very likely.
Simo Ruottinen & Johanna Perkiö
More:
Johanna Perkiö, “Finland: the opposition leader proposes Basic Income pilots”, Basic Income News, 9 October 2014
Stanislas Jourdan, “Finnish Green Party updates its Basic Income policy”, Basic Income News, 17 February 2015
Stanislas Jourdan, “Finland: 65% of parliamentary candidates favour Basic Income”, Basic Income News, 12 March 2015
Liam Upton, ”FINLAND: Pro-Basic Income Centre Party wins election” Basic Income News, 20 April 2015
Credit picture: CC NMK Photographs
