by Andre Coelho | Sep 22, 2018 | News
Benoît Hamon
Benoît Hamon, a former representative of the Socialist Party in France, and who ran for the French presidency in 2017 on ideas like legalizing cannabis, euthanasia, protecting “common goods” (water, air, biodiversity) in the Constitution and basic income. He lost that first run at the presidency, but is still politically active through the recently formed party named Génération.s.
In a recent short video (posted on Facebook) he criticizes elected President Emmanuel Macron, calling him cynical for not being coherent and truthful on the basic income topic. President Macron had shown openness to basic income in the past, but now, according to Hamon, has failed to follow up on his former interest by not abandoning the Revenue de Solidarité Active (RSA), a means-tested, behaviour dependent benefits program now existent in France. Hamon supports that this cynicism derives from the fact that Macron is using the basic income concept to talk about “the fight against poverty” in France, while keeping up the RSA program on the background. He adds that “it is not honest” to put this level of conditions and obligations on 9 million poor people in the country, while asking for nothing to millionaires.
Hamon also suggests that this attitude is used towards environmental policy as well, in which Macron will talk about ambitious environmental goals, but then leave in place policies which are “on radical opposition” to those goals. Concluding, Hamon call Emmanuel Macron a “specialist in counterfeits”, both on the social and environmental agendas.
https://www.facebook.com/hamonbenoit/videos/893350647540912/
More information at:
Stalislas Jourdan, “France: Minister of Economy says he is open to basic income”, Basic Income News, January 26th 2016
by Genevieve Shanahan | Feb 9, 2017 | News
The French Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy, Ségolène Royal, has expressed some support for Socialist candidate Benoît Hamon’s basic income proposal, and noted that the idea has been “unjustly caricatured”.
As recently covered by Basic Income News, Hamon’s proposal involves introducing an unconditional basic income of 600 euro per month for young people in 2018, before eventually rolling out to all citizens and increasing to 750 euro per month.
In a television interview for France 3, Royal had the following to say:
“I find that this idea has been unjustly characterised. Eminent economists have shown that it’s not about calling into question the society of work, that it wouldn’t be a tool to discourage work – on the contrary, it’s a symbol that underlines the necessity of securing employees. […] I think that the idea is interesting – that ambiguities must be lifted, [but] that unjust attacks have been directed against universal income.”
A prominent member of the Socialist Party, Royal was famously defeated in the 2007 presidential election against Nicolas Sarkozy.
Her position in 2017, however, remains uncertain. Royal says that she remains open to supporting either Hamon or the more centrist Emmanuel Macron in the upcoming presidential election, depending on the candidates’ finalised manifestos.
Macron still hasn’t publicised his full platform. Although he previously indicated openness to basic income, the former Minister of Economy has since dismissed basic income on the ground that it might promote laziness. Macron now instead backs the proposal for a decent minimum income that has been pushed forward by the Leftist think tank Terra Nova.
The two-round election will take place on 23 April and 7 May. These candidates go up against the far-right Front National’s Marine Le Pen, the Conservative’s François Fillon, and the Left Party’s Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
The full interview, in French, can be viewed here (discussion of basic income begins at 6:45).
Read more:
“Ségolène Royal soutient le revenu universel de Benoît Hamon” [Ségolène Royal supports the universal income of Benoît Hamon], BFMTV.com, 6 February, 2017.
“Royal salue les «idées neuves» de Hamon et «attend» le projet de Macron” [Royal salutes the “new ideas” of Hamon and “awaits” Macron’s project], 20 Minutes, 5 February, 2017.
Genevieve Shanahan, “FRANCE: Hamon becomes Socialist Party presidential candidate following basic income-focused campaign”, Basic Income News, 30 January, 2017.
Stanislas Jourdan, “FRANCE: Pro basic income candidate set to win socialist primary election”, Basic Income News, 22 January, 2017.
Stanislas Jourdan, “FRANCE: Minister of Economy says he is open to basic income”, Basic Income News, 26 January, 2016.
Additional reporting by Stanislas Jourdan
Photo: Ségolène Royal CC 2.0 by Ségolène Royal
by Stanislas Jourdan | Jan 26, 2016 | News
Basic income continues to make headway in France after the Minister of Economy and the Minister for Digital Affairs sent positive messages about it.
Interviewed in the popular radio and TV show Bourdin Direct, Emmanuel Macron, the French Minister for Economy, said he believed in the principles behind basic income and thought the topic deserved to be investigated further:
“Basic income is an interesting idea. The debate shouldn’t only be about being pro or against, but I think it’s an idea we should investigate further. Why? Because it means giving the possibility to everyone to have a starting point in life. This is the idea of basic income. There is also the idea of having a basic capital [a one-off payment given to everyone] for all persons of a certain age.”
He went on:
“Ultimately, it refers to what philosophy we have of our society. Personally I believe in freedom, I believe in openness (…) I think the role of the state is to recreate conditions of equality at every moment in one’s life: at school, when starting one’s professional life, and when life accidents occur, through social standards and social benefits and education policy for unemployed persons (…). But I don’t believe in egalitarianism, rather I believe in equal opportunities; and the idea of basic income or basic capital for all goes in this direction and I’m interested in this.”
The interview was broadcasted live on January 20, you can listen to the extract about basic income below:
“Basic income is following the natural course of history”
The night before however, the French National Assembly had rejected several amendments calling on the government to carry out a comprehensive study on basic income to assess its feasibility and explore different ways to implement it.
The amendments were championed by Socialist MP Delphine Batho and her Republican colleague Frédéric Lefebvre in the context of a current bill on so-called ‘Digital Republic’, and were meant as a follow-up of the release of an important report on the transformations of work in the digital era.
The night just before the French National Assembly rejected the amendments by only one vote. However Luc Belot, rapporteur of the bill, and Axelle Lemaire, Minister for Digital Affairs, said they were open to the idea.
“The idea is very seductive and could find consensus across all political parties – as long as we don’t go into the details” said the Minister. “In reality this sort of unique safety floor could lead to removing many benefits such as student grants, family and housing benefits and others. On the other hand, one may also consider the possibility that basic income could complement other social benefit schemes. The debate is infinite. You are right to raise this question, and to do that today. In fact, this subject is definitely following the natural course of history.”
However, both the Minister and rapporteur called on the MPs to reject the amendments on the ground that the topic fell outside of the focus of the bill being discussed. They invited MPs to include basic income into the work of another parliamentary working commission led by Christophe Sirugue, which has been tasked to produce a comprehensive review of the welfare system.
The French Movement for Basic income (MFRB) has been asked to contribute to the commission’s work. “We are currently working on providing concrete proposals to pave the way towards basic income” said researcher and MFRB member Jean-Éric Hyafil.
Credit picture CC École Polytechnique
