In this opinion piece published by the French daily Le Monde (March 6, 2012), Philippe Van Parijs (Louvain University, Hoover Chair) compares the eurozone with the United States. Inspired by the works of Martin Feldstein and others, he argues that the eurozone will only be viable at the price of increased interpersonal solidarity. This solidarity, Van Parijs argues, should take the form of a modest individual income floor funded by VAT, i.e. a so-called “Euro-Dividend”.
The piece (in French) is online at:
A Dutch version has been published by the Belgian daily De Morgen: https://www.demorgen.be/dm/nl/2461/De-Gedachte/article/detail/1400934/2012/02/28/Geen-duurzame-euro-zonder-eurodividend.dhtml
I could agree with a eurodividend..but here it is once again something unacceptabel for unions as the financing should be indirect..From where the need to add something that could not and would not satify the majorties in Europe, and then wonder why unions are so negative about basic income. In rich countries higher distributions should be paid and poverty level in the poor countries should be garanteed by solidaruty: then it could serve markets to have an equal confidence in the different economies:in fact this is the only way to replace the possibility to reevaluate currencies. The same effects could be reached by higher/lower payouts. then same low intrest rate are imaginable. This is the real condition for long-time survival of a monetary union.