A Swiss petition drive has collected more than the 100,000 signatures necessary to trigger a referendum on introducing Basic Income in Switzerland. If the government certifies 100,000 of the signatures as valid, a referendum will be held within two years. The proposal does not specify the amount of the basic income, but it would enshrine the principle in Switzerland’s constitution. The proposal is controversial. Even some unions and left organizations have dismissed basic income as a “bonus for laziness.” This proposal is one of several petition drives for basic income in Europe this year, some have been waged nationally and some at level of the European Union as a whole.
For more information see:
Jourdan, Stanislas, “Will the basic income revolution come from Switzerland?” Boiling Frogs, Alternatives, June 3, 2013
Vogele, Wolfgang G., “Swiss parliament may soon debate unconditional basic income,” NNA: News with a difference, 30 Apr 2013
Geiser, Urs “Basic income for all. Old utopian revived on Swiss streets,” swissinfo.ch, June 13, 2013
The Swiss initiative in print
