by Josh Martin | Jan 15, 2016 | News
A recent poll conducted by TNS Gallup in November and December of 2015 found that 51 percent of Finnish respondents supported the idea of a basic income, while only 23 percent outright opposed the idea.
A majority of respondents agreed that a basic income would make it easier to start a business and mitigate financial difficulties, with the most support coming from entrepreneurs, students, and unemployed citizens.
However, 69 percent of respondents believed that setting the basic income level would lead to heated disagreements between political parties. On this note, those least likely to support a basic income came from the populist Finns Party or the centre-right National Coalition Party, while those most likely to support it adhered to the Left Alliance and Green parties. All things considered, however, the proportion of Finns supporting a basic income seems to be going down from a staggering 70 percent previously to 51 percent now.
Recent news out of Finland confirmed plans for a basic income pilot project from 2017 to 2019, joining other countries like the Netherlands and Switzerland in seriously debating the topic.
To learn more, view this article from Yle.
by Nicole Teke | Jan 13, 2016 | News
Socialist Member of Parliament and former Minister Delphine Batho just tabled an amendment to the National Assembly asking the government to make a report on the feasibility of basic income in the context of digital revolution.
Update 18th January: MP Frédéric Lefebvre and several conservatives colleagues have tabled another amendment with the same wording.
Basic income is slowly but surely entering the political scene. On January 11th 2016, Delphine Batho, MP from the Socialist Party and former Minister of Justice and Ecology, submitted an amendment to a bill on digital technology, asking the government to make a report on different approaches to basic income and its economic feasibility.
This amendment (pdf) calls for a detailed report on this topic by no later than June 2016, which would include “a macro-economic feasibility study, a comparative impact study on different approaches to basic income, as well as an analysis on the experiments on the subject that are currently going on, on a local and an international scale”.
This interesting move happened only few days after an important report submitted to the Ministry for Employment made an important case for basic income. As part of 20 recommendations presented to the Ministry, the report recommended studying the feasibility of basic income in France by carrying out a study, in order to plan pilot-projects in the country. It created a lot of ripples in the media and Ms Batho’s amendment directly refers to it.
The French Movement for a Basic Income (MFRB) supports Delphine Batho’s initiative and calls for broad and cross-party support for it.
Mrs Batho’s support for basic income is not new. In a colloquium organized in the Senate in May 2015, she defended the idea, stating that “our welfare and State-financed system relies on 1945 capitalism and the thirty years of post-war economic growth. We now live in a different era and the system is now subject to changes, due more specifically to this new digital era, but also to the ecological crisis, the depletion of natural resources, etc. We thus need to think about a new organizational and welfare system”.
The Socialist MP emphasized the importance of studying the possibility of a basic income in France, in a context where it could “remunerate ‘unpaid work’ and all tasks that create value, especially through digital tools”. She based her arguments on the “digital revolution and the changes it implies for the labour market”, as new technologies contribute to doing more and more tasks, and consequently replace more and more jobs in France and worldwide.
This new development is the latest in a series of positive signals for basic income in France. Last month in the Aquitaine Region, the left coalition won the election with a proposal for a basic income pilot in their platform, and last November a right-wing MP Frédéric Lefebvre unsuccessfully proposed a similar amendment in another legislative dossier.
Last but not least, MP Lefebvre revealed on twitter this week that he has had a discussion with the Minister of the Economy Emmanuel Macron, and the latter agreed to work on basic income.
On the down side, a new poll shows that only 35% of the French would support basic income. This is a lower score than a previous poll in May 2015 (60% in favour). However this may be explained by the different way of presenting the idea to respondents.
This could thus be a turning point for basic income in France, as more and more decision-makers show an interest in the issue.
Credit picture CC Parti socialiste
by Stanislas Jourdan | Jan 7, 2016 | News
A report written by a government agency dedicated to Digital Affairs for the French Ministry of Labor recommends experimenting with an unconditional basic income to cope with the fundamental transformations of work in the context of the growing digital economy.
How do automation and digitalization of activities impact working conditions? This was one of the key questions the National Digital Council was tasked to address in a report sponsored by the French Ministry of Labor and Social Dialogue. The Digital Council is a public agency created in 2012 to advise the French government on matters related to the digital world.
The report was released earlier this week – see the full report here. It makes an important case for basic income, and calls for a thorough appraisal of “the various proposals and experiments around basic income”. Basic income is part of the twenty main recommendations contained in the report.
Minister of Labour is sceptical but does not reject the proposal
The Minister of Labor Myriam El Khomri was not so enthusiastic but did not close the door on the idea: “I do not want to dismiss it, but at first sight I am not sure about its cost,” she said.
According to the report, the existing social protection model has been pushed to its limits, and the labor market has failed to reward many different forms of activities, and thus provide an income to everyone.
These phenomena are not new, but technology is accelerating the trends. Automation is displacing jobs and killing aggregate demand in the economy. The development of invisible forms of production on the internet – what is commonly referred to as ‘digital labor’ – is leading to new forms of production that do not remunerate people for their work. As a consequence, there is a need for new kinds of redistribution systems, such as a basic income.
The report reviews many common arguments for introducing an unconditional and universal basic income, and quickly sketches different proposals on how to implement it. These include a reform of the tax-benefit system, various forms of money creation (such as quantitative easing for people), and raising corporate taxes to remunerate invisible and unpaid labor.
Although the report does not express a preference for a specific proposal, it calls for two concrete steps:
- A feasibility study on basic income to be conducted by a team of economists, statisticians, fiscal and legal experts. The aim would be to develop a simulation tool of the transition to a basic income, and carry out an impact assessment of each proposal in the public debate.
- Local basic income experiments that complement the feasibility study and consider various scenarios.
“We cannot ignore this movement.”
“This is the first time a report of a public agency discusses a basic income linked to digital transformations” Benoit Thieulin, one of the report authors, said. “Governments need to seize the opportunity and help with the reform of our solidarity and redistribution models. Experiments are conducted in several countries, we cannot ignore this movement.”
Basic income was only the last of 20 recommendations, yet it made most of the headlines in French media.
“For a long time I have also been sceptical about basic income … I wasn’t too convinced,” Thieulin explained in an interview. “But today this idea puts everything into question. Especially now that the welfare system is cracking everywhere. Half of the people don’t claim their benefits! Administration costs are enormous! … At some point one has to ask if it would not be simpler, less expensive and more beneficial for all if we had a universal safety net.”
The French Movement for Basic Income, a BIEN affiliate, was among the organisations consulted during the writing process and welcomed the release of the report. “It is a timely report that opens the debate in the best possible terms,” International Coordinator Nicole Teke said to BIEN.
The French government has commissioned another report to review all social benefits, with special attention to be paid to the existing minimum income scheme. The French Movement for Basic Income announced that it will submit proposals to pave the way for the introduction of a basic income.
by Dejan Tachevski | Jan 3, 2016 | News
Basic income is knocking on the door in Ireland too. Fianna Fáil, an Irish republican party, will pledge to introduce a basic income in their new election manifesto, as reported by John Downing in the Irish Independent:
“Fianna Fáil will promise every citizen of the country – from the richest to the poorest – a minimum welfare income in excess of current basic welfare rates which average €188 per week.”
They plan to establish “an expert group to report within six months on matters like how much the minimum payment would be and what kind of taxation changes would be needed to fund it.” Their main argument for the inclusion of the basic income pledge is that it would be “major protection against poverty in an era where few will be guaranteed work throughout their lives.”
Additionally, Fianna Fáil “will also argue that many sections of the population already receive considerable welfare payments, such as pensions or child benefit, which would be factored into the minimum income – making the final cost not vastly greater than current welfare spending.
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For the full article, click here.
Credit picture: CC Lee Jordan
by Stanislas Jourdan | Dec 31, 2015 | News
The French Movement for Basic Income (an affiliate of BIEN) has launched an ambitious crowdfunding call, aiming at collecting 25,000 euros to fund a series of new projects.
The French Movement for Basic Income, founded in 2013 following up the European Citizens’ initiative, has significantly contributed to building momentum for basic income. It now needs to scale-up and reach a next step.
This is why the movement has begun a crowdfunding campaign, initiated in early November 2015. As its crowdfunding page explains, the money will be divided among 8 key projects:
- Create campaigning tools and distribute them among the network of local groups across France.
- Participate in COP21 events by having a stall in the Village of Alternatives (this project was already carried out early December).
- Publish a whitepaper on basic income which will provide a synthesis of arguments, theories and proposals for implementing basic income in France. This will greatly help advocacy activities.
- Develop a new website to improve the promotion of basic income online.
- Print 50k extra issues of the newspaper ‘L’inconditionnel’ which was initially launched in 2014 in partnership with Swiss and Belgian activists. The first issue has met a huge level of demand, leading to a shortage of copies.
- Finance an independent public poll to assess the level of awareness and support for basic income in France. This will allow the movement to monitor the progress made since the last poll in May 2015.
- Launch a new issue of L’Inconditionnel. (Everyone is demanding it!)
- New video clips explaining basic income to the public.
While most of the crowdsourced money will be applied to these specific projects, about 30% will be used to pay for the running costs of the association. The association will soon have an office in Paris, and it is considering a plan to hire permanent staff members.
“So far, the association’s funding has been mostly entirely relying on membership fees and donations, and partly through subsidies from MPs. This campaign will allow us to speed up our projects and accelerate the growth of the movement,” says Nicole Teke, international coordinator for UBI-France. About 6,500 euros have already been collected, and the organizers hope to reach the 25,000 target within two months.
In France – as in many other nations – basic income has enjoyed mainstream popularity over the past few months. In May, a poll has showed that 60% of the population would be in favor of a basic income, and the feasibility of a pilot project is being pushed in the South-West Region of France.
You can donate here.
