UBIE

Politicians and major European organisations working in the fields of health, poverty, democracy, education and the environment will discuss the potential benefits of unconditional basic income at the European Economic and Social Committee on Thursday, 10 April 2014. The conference will also mark the launch of a new network, Unconditional Basic Income Europe, which formed around the European Citizens Initiative for Unconditional Basic Income (ECI for UBI) last year. Citizens from 25 European countries have collaborated to hold this conference.

Entitled ‘Unconditional Basic Income: Emancipating European Welfare’, the conference will bring together activists, politicians, organisations and interested individuals to highlight the potential benefits of this idea. UBI gained an unprecedented amount of press coverage last year, and was backed by over 300,000 supporters across Europe during the ECI for UBI.

Unconditional Basic Income Europe

During its year­long run the number of countries involved with this European Citizens’ Initiative swelled from 13 to 25. “As momentum built in the last two months of the collection period of the ECI on UBI, signatures doubled,” said Klaus Sambor, general organiser of the ECI for UBI. The conference will celebrate organisers’ achievements during this ECI with reports from several of the countries involved, including the latest developments of UBI campaigns within their borders.

There will also be presentations from Guy Standing about a recent pilot project in India, Philippe van Parijs about his proposal for a ‘Eurodividend’ to be paid to all EU citizens, Ronald Blaschke of Netzwerk Grundeinskommen Germany on UBI’s potential to ameliorate hidden poverty. Others including Sian Jones of the European Anti­Poverty Network and Plamen Dimitrov, President of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria will speak about UBI’s beneficial effects on health, the environment, democracy and social solidarity.

The conference’s moderator will be Karl Widerquist, co­Chair of the Basic Income Earth Network and editor of BINews.org. “With the UBI movement,” Widerquist writes, “people are beginning to realise that there is no freedom without freedom from poverty, and there is no freedom from poverty without unconditional access to the basic necessities of life.”

Title of the Conference: “Unconditional Basic Income: Emancipating European Welfare”
Time and place: Thursday 10 April 2014 (9.30 – 17.30) European Economic and Social Committee, Van Maerlant Building 99 rue Belliard, 1040 Brussels (Room VM3, 2nd floor)
Registration required by 5pm, Monday 7 April: please email conference@ubie.org
For more information see: https://basicincome­europe.org email: press@ubie.org
Or contact: Barb Jacobson +44 7985 670 688