by Jaanus Nurmoja | Sep 13, 2020 | Featured, News
On 25 September, the collection of statements of support for the European Citizens’ Initiative will begin, with the ultimate aim of establishingUnconditional Basic Incomes throughout the European Union, in all 27 member states.
In particular, the initiative calls on the European Commission to submit to the appropriate institutions its proposal for the introduction of an Unconditional Basic Income while remaining within the competences conferred to the EU by the Treaties.
The signatories only support the launch of the introduction process, but do not prescribe to the Commission exactly how the implementation of the UBI should take place.
If a citizens’ initiative receives at least one million statements of support during one year and the number of supporters in seven or more EU countries exceeds the national quota, the European Commission must start work on implementing the initiative’s proposal. The Commission may then recommend that the Council of the EU formulate an UBI-related draft for the broad guidelines of the economic policies of the Member States and of the Union and report its findings to the European Council. On the basis of the conclusion of the European Council, the Council of the EU may adopt a recommendation setting out those broad guidelines.
With about 7% of the world population involved, this ECI is considered to be the largest UBI-campaign ever in the world. It will be held in 27 EU member states, with 24 different official languages (plus, with more than 60 indigenous languages), addressing a total population of around 450 million.
This is the second ECI about UBI. The first one was held in 2013-2014, when it got more than 285 000 signatures. The official objective was not achieved then, but six countries – Bulgaria, Slovenia, Croatia, Belgium, Netherlands and Estonia reached their signature quotas, and one, Hungary, came close to reaching theirs. For the new ECI, the activists consider much more success than 1 million signatures due to the raise of awareness about UBI and the enlargement of the network of UBI advocates.
The “Start Unconditional Basic Incomes (UBI) throughout the EU” is one of the first European Citizens’ Initiatives to use a new system for collecting statements of support. Among other things, support can now be expressed using electronic means of identification, such as a national ID card.
The introduction of an Unconditional Basic Income, as said in the Initiative, ensures every person’s material existence and opportunity to participate in society as part of its economic policy, and reduces regional disparities in order to strengthen the economic, social and territorial cohesion in the EU.
The general principles of Unconditional Basic Income, which are unconditionality, universality, individuality and sufficiency for dignity, are set out in the Annex to the document, as well as the provisions of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and other treaties that the introduction of an UBI will implement. The rest, such as making the best choices out of the many possible funding methods or the division of competences between the EU and the Member States in the details of the UBI, will remain the subject of further disputes, in particular during the proceedings in EU institutions.
As defined in the Annex, an Unconditional Basic Income as a human right and a benefit does not depend on any precondition, be it an obligation to perform paid work, to show a willingness to work, to be involved in community service or to act in a gender-sensitive manner.
Universality means that the basic income is paid to everyone, regardless of a person’s resources, age, origin, social status or any other indicator. A basic income is individual if it is paid in any case only to individuals, regardless of their marital status, and not to families or other institutions as a whole.
An amount in excess of the relative poverty line, corresponding to at least 60% of the average net income of the country’s population, is generally considered to be sufficient for an UBI. However, the authors of the initiative emphasize that as median income is lower (having lower purchasing power) in countries with a lower standard of living, other criteria should also be taken into account, such as the cost of a basket of goods and services.
by Aleksander Masternak | May 18, 2020 | News
The European Commission has agreed that a new European Citizens’ Initiative about Basic Income can begin in November.
Title of citizens’ initiative: Start Unconditional Basic Incomes (UBI) throughout the EU
Date of request for registration: 15/04/2020
Brussels 15/05/2020
Dear organisers, We are pleased to inform you that the European Commission has adopted today the Decision on the registration of your proposed citizen’s initiative …
On the 15th May 2020, the EU Commission agreed to register a Citizens’ Initiative for an EU-wide Unconditional Basic Income (UBI). If the Citizens’ Initiative manages to collect 1,000,000 signatures from at least seven different EU countries within a year of the start of the campaign the European Commission will be required to consider the initiative and respond.
This initiative was started by an international network of activists and initiatives called Unconditional Basic Income Europe (UBIE). This network was first started in the aftermath of a campaign to garner support for a UBI citizens’ initiative back in 2013-2014 which managed to gather 300,000 signatures from over 25 EU countries.
The new initiative asks “the EU Commission to make a proposal for unconditional basic incomes throughout the EU, which reduce regional disparities in order to strengthen the economic, social and territorial cohesion in the EU.” The proposal states the UBI “shall not replace the welfare state”, “is paid to all, without a means test”, and should be unconditional as a “human and legal right.” Moreover the UBI should be “high enough” and “provide for a decent standard of living, which meets the society’s social and cultural standards in the country concerned.” As such, the “net amount of UBI should be at least above the at-risk-of-poverty level according to EU standards, which corresponds to 60% of the so-called national median net equivalent income.”
The timing of the current initiative coincides with the Covid-19 pandemic. Many commentators suggest that a UBI could help countries weather the crisis and help boost economic recovery in its aftermath. UBIE highlighted that effective confinement measures means the “partial or total loss of […] income” for “millions across Europe” and the “risk of falling through social safety nets and into poverty.” The network launched a petition on their website that calls on EU leaders to implement an emergency UBI on the 21st March that has thus far been signed by over 175,000 Europeans. UBIE emphasised that a UBI can help guarantee that every EU citizen’s material well-being is secured and maximises uptake by avoiding increasing bureaucratic burdens on citizens and national administrations.
(As a result of the outbreak, the EU economy is forecasted to contract by 7.5% in 2020 and unemployment is forecast to rise from 6.7% in 2019 to 9% in 2020. The EU Council has agreed that the EU-wide response should be to set-up a “temporary instrument to help workers keep their jobs during the crisis.” It is called SURE, and provides loans to Member States to help pay for “national short-time work schemes and similar measures.”)
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by Peter Knight | Jan 12, 2022 | News
A European Citizens‘ Initiative (ECI) in favor of an EU UBI has been started on 25 September 2020. The collection period currently ends on 25 June 2022.
The ECI proposes “… to establish the introduction of unconditional basic incomes throughout the EU which ensure every person’s material existence and opportunity to participate in society as part of its economic policy. This aim shall be reached while remaining within the competences conferred to the EU by the Treaties.“ Further, the ECI requests “… the EU Commission to make a proposal for unconditional basic incomes throughout the EU, which reduce regional disparities in order to strengthen the economic, social and territorial cohesion in the EU. This shall realize the aim of the joint statement by the European Council, the European Parliament and the European Commission, stated in 2017, that ‘the EU and its member states will also support efficient, sustainable and equitable social protection systems to guarantee basic income’ in order to combat inequality.“
More than 169 thousand have signed the ECI as of 12 January 2022. But one million signatures are required. BIEN life members, BIEN affiliates in the EU and other UBI-Advocates in the EU may support the ECI-UBI-campaign at the following URL: https://de.eci-ubi.eu/.
Advocates of the ECI UBI are also active on the online platform of the Conference on the Future of Europe. It is not only in three interim reports on the online platform that the proposal on Unconditional Basic Incomes throughout the EU is highlighted. The UBI also has a high approval rate at the Europe Talks of major newspapers in Europe.
In order to make UBI (and the European Citizens’ Initiative) even more popular, endorsements and positive comments on the ECI proposal may be given on the online platform of the Conference on the Future of Europe: https://futureu.europa.eu/processes/Economy/f/10/proposals/1556.
by Yannick Vanderborght | Dec 13, 2013 | News
Press release from the European Citizens Initiative for Unconditional Basic Income Europe
UPDATE: As of December 5th, 31 MEPs have signed the statement of support.
Twenty-nine members of the European Parliament (MEPs) from 12 different European Countries issued a joint statement (pdf) expressing their support for the European Citizen’s Initiative (ECI) for Unconditional Basic Income. This calls upon the European Commission to assess the idea of reforming current national social security arrangements towards an unconditional basic income (UBI).
MEPs ask all Europeans to support this initiative. All EU citizens eligible to vote can support this ECI either via the internet (https://sign.basicincome2013.eu) or on paper. One million signatures are needed by 14 January 2014 to make sure it lands on the EC’s desk.
The current social security systems are demeaning and inadequate in addressing the roots of poverty, the MEPs emphasize.
“Unconditional Basic Income would transform social security from a compensatory system into an emancipatory system, one that trusts people to make their own decisions, and does not stigmatise them for their circumstances,” the statement says.
“We believe a new form of social security is urgently needed as social security systems in individual countries become increasingly conditional and punitive, they undermine individual dignity, form barriers to civic participation and deepen divisions in European society both across and within national borders.”
They also said this new form of social security is far simpler than existing (often chaotic and burdensome) systems, would help balance income disparities and could help mitigate the social and racial tensions caused by economic migration.
Signatories:
Martin EHRENHAUSER, independent (Austria)
Philippe LAMBERTS, Greens (Belgium)
Isabelle DURANT, Greens (Belgium)
Bart STAES, Greens (Belgium)
Nikola VULJANIĆ, Left (Croatian)
Olga SEHNALOVÁ, Social Democrats (Czech Republic)
Tarja CRONBERG, Greens (Finland)
Satu HASSI, Greens (Finland)
Catherine GREZE, Greens (France)
Eva JOLY, Greens (France)
José BOVÉ, Greens (France)
Karima DELLI, Greens (France)
Jean-Paul BESSET, Greens (France)
Nicole KIIL-NIELSEN, Greens (France)
Yves COCHET, Greens (France)
Malika BENARAB-ATTOU, Greens (France)
Michèle RIVASI, Greens (France)
Gerald HÄFNER, Greens (Germany)
Ska KELLER, Greens (Germany)
Nikos CHRISOGELOS, Greens (Greece)
Brian CROWLEY, ALDE (Ireland)
Emer COSTELLO, Social Democrats (Ireland)
Liam AYLWARD, ALDE (Ireland)
Nessa CHILDERS, independent (Ireland)
Sean KELLY, Christian Democrats (Ireland)
Pat the Cope Callagher, ALDE (Ireland)
Georges BACH, Christian Democrats (Luxembourg)
Claude TURMES, Greens (Luxembourg)
Carl SCHLYTER, Greens (Sweden)
Jean LAMBERT, Greens (UK)
Keith TAYLOR, Greens (UK)
[update 29/11] Olga SEHNALOVÁ, Keith TAYLOR, Bart STAES and Yves COCHET also brought their support.
[update 30/11] Isabelle DURANT was added
[update 05/12] Jean-Paul BESSET and Nicole KIIL-NIELSEN joined their support
by Yannick Vanderborght | Dec 12, 2013 | News
European Citizens’ Initiative for an Unconditional Basic Income has a webpage with daily updates on the number of signatures collected for the initiative. As of December 11, 2013, more than 166,285 people have signed the petition in favor of a basic income for the European Union. The proposals requires 1,000,000 signatures of EU citizens to spark a response by the EU. The page also includes a map keeping track of signatures by country.
The map is online at: https://basicincome2013.eu/ubi/counter
