by Andre Coelho | Feb 2, 2018 | News
The Council of Europe Assembly voted on 23 January 2018 in favour of a Resolution concerning basic income. A clear majority of the participants voted in favour of the policy (52%), while 36% voted against it and 13% abstained.
With this result, the Council of Europe has adopted the Resolution’s text. The latter was based on a report delivered by the Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development (on the 5th of January 2018), which states the case for a basic citizenship income. In this short research report, the basic income policy is presented in general terms, justified mainly in its ability to reduce poverty and poverty-related social problems in welfare states, mainly focused in European countries. The report also defends the basic income policy on the grounds of it being able to remove present-day disincentives to work of most conditional means-tested social assistance programs in the referred countries, while reducing bureaucracy and stigmatization associated with these.
The Council of Europe had already released another report in 2015, making a close connection between living with dignity in the 21st century and basic income. The result of this vote from the Council of Europe’s Assembly generally reflects recent efforts to survey the opinion of people regarding basic income, such as the European Social Survey 2016 Round 8 results. A broad comparison shows that positions towards basic income are divided, but with a tendency to being open to the idea.
More information at:
Josh Martin, “EUROPE: Council of Europe releases largely pro-basic income report”, Basic Income News, September 7th 2015
Patrick Hoare, “EUROPE: European Social Survey (ESS) reveal findings about attitudes toward Universal Basic Income across Europe”, Basic Income News, January 20th 2018
by Andre Coelho | Oct 28, 2016 | News
Romanian Orthodox Cathedral in Timisoara
The last thematic meeting of the CO-ACTE project was held in Timisoara, Romania, on the 16th and 17th of September. This international meeting, titled “Democratic governance of common goods for the well-being of all today and in the future”, was attended by Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN) Executive Committee member André Coelho, as well as individuals from several other organizations, such as the Community Land Trust, Giuseppe Mastruzzo, Mairie de Saillans Municipality and the School of Peace. Members of local Romanian organizations were also present.
Like previous CO-ACTE meetings, the event was organized by the Together association, in collaboration with a local partner based in Timisoara, a beautiful historical city at the southeast edge of the Banat plain.
This meeting was an important step towards the final presentation of the project, which has been reported on before, to be held in Braine-l’Alleud (Belgium), November 2-4. At this event, project participants will present CO-ACTE’s 10-year development results to political actors, including top officials at the European Commission. The CO-ACTE project focuses on societal developments and public policies for the well-being of all, using the results from a large popular consultation effort (an application of a technique called the SPIRAL method).
Basic income is one of the policies defended within the CO-ACTE project, where it is considered central to achieving a balanced state of economic activity which aligns with the well-being of all, both now and for future generations. This relates perfectly with the aforementioned meeting on democratic governance, since it has long been realized that there is no real freedom, hence the shared management of common goods and direct forms of democracy, without economic security.
More information at:
CO-ACTE website
by Josh Martin | Sep 7, 2015 | News
The Council of Europe has released an EU-funded report titled Living in dignity in the 21st century: Poverty and inequality in societies of human rights à the paradox of democracies in which a large group of researchers sought to determine what it will take to live with dignity in Europe in the 21st century. The report focuses on the three key principles that underline the Council of Europe’s human rights approach: universality, indivisibility, and integrity. Through contextual analysis of Europe’s social security systems, the report considers many possible policy answers to help citizens live with dignity in the 21st century, with basic income being mentioned as a real possibility. The report mentions basic income over twenty times, and two members of BIEN, Yannick Vanderborght and Louise Haagh, were among the contributors to the report. In fact, basic income is listed as a required policy to combat poverty and inequality and to allow everyone to live with dignity in the 21st century.
To read the full report, click on the following link:
Council of Europe, “Living in dignity in the 21st century: Poverty and inequality in societies of human rights à the paradox of democracies”, Council of Europe Publishing, February 2013.
