by Yannick Vanderborght | Jul 17, 2014 | News
François Blais - Photo: OIF, via Le Devoir
In a an interview with the daily newspaper Le Devoir (30 June 2014), François Blais – who was appointed Minister of Employment and Social Solidarity after the April 2014 General Election in Quebec – cautiously reiterates his support for basic income. As BIEN was holding its international conference in Montreal, Blais stressed the fact that a thorough reform of Quebec’s social model would be most welcome, provided it would include the introduction of a “guaranteed minimum income” for all. Blais also insisted on the fact that this was not an official statement of the Quebec’s government, but rather his own position on this issue. In 2001, Blais had published an introductory book on basic income in French, which was translated into English in 2002: “Ending Poverty. A Basic Income for all Canadians” (Lorimer Publishing).
The interview can be found here (in French).
by Yannick Vanderborght | Apr 24, 2014 | News
A general election was held in Québec (Canada) on April 7th, 2014. The Parti Libéral du Québec (PLQ), under the lead of Philippe Couillard, won the elections, and now has 70 seats at the National Assembly – enough to form a majority government. On April 23rd, 2014, the new Premier, Philippe Couillard, officially unveiled his cabinet, with no less than 26 ministers.
Among them is François Blais, who has just been elected as a new MP for the PLQ (in the electoral district of Charlesbourg, in Quebec-city). Blais will be the Minister of Employment and Social Solidarity in the Couillard government.
François Blais -Le journal de la communauté universitaire
François Blais – formerly Dean of Faculty at Laval University, Québec – is a long-standing advocate of basic income, and a Life Member of BIEN. In 2001, he published an introductory book on basic income in French, which was translated into English in 2002: “Ending Poverty. A Basic Income for all Canadians” (Lorimer Publishing).
Basic income, however, was not part of the PLQ platform for this general election. It is doubtful that François Blais, as a Minister of Employment, will be able to put it on the agenda. On April 24, 2014, the daily Le Devoir wrote: “Philippe Couillard appointed François Blais as his Minister of Employment and Social Solidarity. Blais, formerly Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Laval University, is above all an advocate of a guaranteed minimum income. However, the Premier did not give a mandate to the new Minister to implement this ambitious reform”.
Further information:
Article in Le Devoir (in French)
CBC report (in English)
by Karl Widerquist | Apr 4, 2014 | News
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
by Karl Widerquist | Feb 27, 2014 | News
UBI: Emancipating European Welfare
After one year of campaigning for the European Citizens’ Initiative for Unconditional Basic Income, we are still actively continuing on the path towards finding an intelligent approach to European citizens’ real needs, particularly those generated by poverty. The Initiative won the support of over 300,000 people in less than a year. Since then, a network involving people and organisations from 25 countries has come together to carry on the Initiative’s aims.
At this conference we would like to consolidate this network by reflecting both on what has happened in the past year and on our future aspirations. Our main aim is for unconditional basic income to be implemented throughout the EU. There are also moves underway to get UBI recognised as a human right under the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (Article 1: Human Dignity).
We hope that you will be able to attend our conference on 10 April 2014, and actively participate in the discussion of ideas which will be presented there. We would be grateful if we could receive your confirmation by 25 March. Please RSVP by e-mail: conference@ubie.org.
=== AGENDA ===
9:30 – 9:40 am: Welcome from European Economic and Social Committee (EESC)
9.40 – 9.50: Welcome from Barb Jacobson, Chair, Unconditional Basic Income Europe (UBIE)
9:50 – 10:05: Jones Sian, European Anti Poverty Network: Situation with income poverty and hidden poverty in Europe
10:05 – 10:15: Questions & Answers
10.15 – 10.30: Ronald Blaschke, Co-Founder and Member of the Board of Netzwerk Grundeinkommen Germany: Unconditional Basic Income – Consistently against (hidden) poverty and for real freedom for everyone
10:30 – 10:40: Q&A
10:40 – 11:00: Coffee Break
11:00 – 11:15: Elena Dalibot: European Alternatives, Project Coordinator: Citizens Manifesto for European Democracy, Solidarity and Equality – Different Needs and Solutions
11:15 – 11:25: Q&A
11:25 – 11:40: Gerald Häfner, MEP, Greens: Development of ECI and EU-Referendum – tools for more democracy in the EU
11:40 – 11:50 Q&A
11:50 – 12:05 David Casassas, Member of BIEN, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona: Democracy and Unconditional Basic Income
12:05 – 12:15 Q&A
12:15 – 12:30: Werner Rätz, Attac Germany, Working Group Enough for all and Working Group Beyond the Growth: Degrowth, Health and Unconditional Basic Income
12:30 – 1:00 pm Q&A (ten minutes) and General Discussion
1.00 – 2:00 pm: Lunch Break
2:00 – 2:15 – Philippe Van Parijs, Chair of Advisory Board of BIEN: Euro- Dividend – An example for an partial basic income in Europe
2:15 – 2:25: Q&A
2:25 – 2:40: Guy Standing, Honorary Co-President of BIEN: What can we learn from Namibian and Indian experiments with unconditional cash transfers?
2:40- 2:50: Q&A
2:50 – 3:20: BREAK
3:20 – 5:20: Building the European Movement for an UBI – Panel
• Stanislas Jourdan, French Movement for UBI: How the ECI woke up the European movement
• Valerija Korosec, UBI Slovenia: Running in the EU elections for UBI
• Vahur Luhtsalu, UBI Estonia: Learning-by-doing: How we jumped on the ECI-UBI train (and what are the lessons learned)
• Plamen Dimitrov (Bulgarian Trade Union president – CITUB) (tbc)
• Spanish speaker on the National Popular Initiative (tbc)
• Speaker from Scandinavia (tbc): UBI in the context of advanced welfare countries
• Klaus Sambor, Runder Tisch Grundeinkommen Austria: The movement for UBI as part of wider social movements in Europe
5:20 – 5.30: – Closing address
For more information go to: https://www.facebook.com/events/1445383579030636/
by Karl Widerquist | Feb 14, 2014 | Research
SUMMARY: This report examines the potentials of basic income to serve as a new tool for social and development policy, drawing from the recent experiences from recent pilot projects. The structure of the report is as follows: Chapter two provides a brief literature review of cash transfer policies currently in place in many developing countries and assesses the potential advantages of universal and unconditional transfers over targeted and conditional ones. Chapter three presents the three country cases where universal cash transfer policies have been tested or gradually implemented. Chapter four concludes and explores the prospects of basic income as a part of the new development policy agenda. The empirical material regarding basic income experiments is collected from the projects’ own research reports and newsletters, as well as relevant academic and non-academic articles.
Johanna Perkio, “Universal Basic Income: A New Tool for Development Policy?” Kansainvalinen Solidaarisuutyo: International Solidarity Work, January 31, 2014.
For a direct link to the PDF version of the article go to: https://sange.fi/kvsolidaarisuustyo/wp-content/uploads/Universal-Basic-Income-A-New-Tool-for-Development-Policy.pdf
Kansainvalinen Solidaarisuutyo
