by Karl Widerquist | May 2, 2013 | News
The Initiative for Basic Income in Greece organized a presentation in Athens on April 25, 2013 to inform people about what Basic Income is and how they can participate in the European effort to accumulate 1,000,000 signatures on a petition to get the European Union to exmine BI. The event’s speakers were Stanislas Jourdan (coordinator of the French movement for basic income and coordinator of the European campaign for basic income), Manos Matsaganis (Professor of public economics and social policy at the Athens University of Economics and Business and a life time member of BIEN) and Vassilis Perantzakis (Software engineer/Analyst and member of the Pirate Movement).
for more information on the Initiative for basic income in Greece
https://www.facebook.com/basicincomegr
https://twitter.com/basic_incomegr
by Yannick Vanderborght | Apr 29, 2013 | Opinion
Considering that the ongoing global crisis has led to massive unemployment, particularly in Europe, and has left many people in despair, groups of citizens from 15 European Union countries have launched an initiative to request the EU to examine the feasibility of an Unconditional Basic Income.
The idea behind an Unconditional Basic Income is to allow for a better distribution of work opportunities, thus supporting decent living conditions for everyone. Such an Unconditional Basic Income must be universal, individual and high enough to be a radical tool for fighting inequalities and poverty.
The Basic Income would also be a way to simplify many welfare benefit rules and procedures, and would not replace the welfare state but would transform it from a weak compensatory one into an emancipatory welfare state.
The broad collaboration of European groups and citizens from 15 countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, and the United Kingdom) that has been preparing this campaign shows that the long-standing idea of a Basic Income is gaining momentum.
After registration of the European Citizens’ Initiative by the EU-Commission early this year, Bulgaria, Finland, Hungary and the Czech Republic have also joined the coordinating group of the campaign.
In addition to those of the coordinating group (“European Citizens’ Committee”) we have already obtained signatures from all 27 countries of the EU (see Figure: “Statistic for the first month of online signatures”).
The organizers of the initiative invite everybody to sign their support on the joint website https://basicincome2013.eu
It is also possible to support the campaign by filling in forms. In other words, you do not need to have internet access. We must maximize the number of signatures by 14 January 2014, to be given for evaluation to the national authorities in all 27 Member States.
Our next European coordination meeting will take place on 27 May 2013 (with a public event on the evening before) in Köln. One item to be considered will be the proposal for an International Week of Unconditional Basic Income, to be held from September 16 to 22, 2013.
So we hope we will obtain the required 1 million signatures, while reaching a minimum threshold in at least 7 Member States, which is a necessary condition to reach the first step of the European Citizens’ Initiative. Once that has been achieved, there must be a public hearing in the EU-Parliament, offered by the EU-Commission, and then the EU-Commission will decide what will be done further.
Please sign the European Citizens Initiative and inform other persons by your media (e-mail, Newsletter, Website, facebook, twitter, print media, etc.) asking for support!
https://basicincome2013.eu
by Yannick Vanderborght | Apr 18, 2013 | News
European Citizens’ Initiative for an Unconditional Basic Income
On January 14th 2013, the European Commission accepted a petition for European Citizens’ Initiative for Basic Income, triggering a one-year campaign involving all countries in the European Union. If the organizers collect 1 million statements of support for the Basic Income petition from any 1 million out of the 500 million citizens of the European Union by January 14, 2014, the European Commission will be legally obliged to examine their initiative and arrange for a public hearing in the European Parliament.
The initiative’s website is: https://basicincome2013.eu/
The signup page for the petition is: https://basicincome2013.eu/ubi/signup-page/
by Yannick Vanderborght | Apr 1, 2013 | News
[Robin Ketelaars – Vereniging Basisinkomen (the Netherlands) – April 2013]
At the start of this year the European Union (EU) registered the European Citizens’ Initiative for an Unconditional Basic Income. Fifteen EU member states are participating in this initiative. Before January 14th 2014 one million statements of support have to be collected for the initiative to pass. When the organizers of the citizens’ initiative reach this number, the European Commission will have to examine the initiative and arrange a public hearing for the Unconditional Basic Income by the European Parliament.
The initiative can be found at https://basicincome2013.eu and can only be signed by citizens of the European Union.
A YouTube Video explaining the initiative is online at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqXXO0GGNRI
by Sandro Gobetti | Mar 4, 2013 | News
[BIN-Italia – December 2012]
An Italian organisation called TILT organised a public debate entitled “Basic Income, Labour, Training: Welfare goes haywire” on the 15th of December at Porta Futuro in Rome.
During the morning session, the meeting was attended by Professor Edwin Morley Fletcher (Professor of Public Policies at Università La Sapienza), Tina Bali (from the Secretary of the union CGIL Roma e Lazio), Antonio Martini (Manager of the Ministry of Economic Development), Nicolò Pecorini (President of Multiverso), Roberto Covolo (Project Manager ex Fadda), and Pasquale Adilardi (Zona Bandita).
During the afternoon session, many other speakers took part in the event: Luca Santini (BIN Italia), Salvatore Marra (CGIL CES), Astrind D’eredità (ANA), Emanuele Toscano (CPU), Alessandro Valera (European Alternatives). Francesco Raparelli (Esc Atelier), Roberto Ciccarelli (Quinto Stato), as well as some members of grassroots organisations such as Diversamente Occupate, Iva sei Partita, Rete della conoscenza, and UDU.
Massimiliano Smeriglio, Town Councillor for Labour Policies at Provincia di Roma, and Nicola Zingaretti, Governor of the Province of Rome, took also part in the event.
https://www.bin-italia.org/
