by Yannick Vanderborght | Mar 3, 2013 | News
[BIEN – March 2013]
Goodman, David, “Push is on for CHF2,500 ‘basic income’ (audio interview)” World Radio Switzerland, Monday, 21 January, 2013
A federal initiative was launched in Switzerland last April asking for an unconditional basic income guaranteed of 2,500 Francs a month for every resident, regardless of their nationality. Campaigners already have half the signatures for a ballot with 10 months of campaigning still left. And last week, a another citizen’s initiative was launched in the European Union, asking the European Commission to consider the a similar idea. Dave Goodman, of World Radio Switzerland, talks to Gabriel Barta, a member of the committee behind the Swiss Basic Income initiative.
The interview can be found at this link:
https://worldradio.ch/wrs/news/switzerland/push-is-on-for-chf2500-basic-income.shtml?34207
by Karl Widerquist | Feb 23, 2013 | News
[Vivan Storlund – Suomen Perustuloverkosto (BIEN Finland) – February 2013]
On 1 February 2013 a campaign for an unconditional basic income was launched in Finland. This was a historic moment, as the possibility to present citizen’s initiatives is as new in Finland as the one in the European Union. There is one difference between the EU and Finnish citizens’ initiative. The EU citizens’ initiative is addressed to the Commission, whereas in Finland, it is the Parliament that will decide on the initiatives. So now the initiative has the opportunity to test Finnish citizens’ democratic muscle. 50,000 signatures are required from a population of close to 5.5 million. The result of the first day was more than 3,100 electronic signatures and some 100 signatures on paper forms.
These are the central points in the Finnish initiative:
– A basic income should be introduced to an amount covering at least the present basic social security entitlements and it should be designed in such a way that it does not reduce the income or entitlements of low-income earners.
– The basic income should be seen as a citizen’s right to an income free of means testing.
– It would secure means necessary for a life of dignity as required both by the Finnish Constitution and international human rights conventions.
– It would secure a comprehensive income to all and in all situations, avoiding thereby that groups of people would be excluded from the social security systems. This is a requirement that has also been expressed by the Parliament’s Constitutional Law Committee during the reform of the basic rights and liberties provisions embedded in the present constitution.
– It should be unconditional, paid automatically to all persons independently of other incomes or choices in life.
The initiative stresses the need for a basic income because of the structural uncertainties in the labour market, caused by the increase in short-term or part-time work as well as different forms of self-employment. In addition, there are increasing problems in combining different social security benefits based on need with other kinds of entitlements, income from work and entrepreneurship. Paid employment and the current social security do not offer sufficient continuity in income. Through a basic income, a more egalitarian and just welfare state can be created. On these grounds Finnish citizens demand that their MPs start preparing legislation for the introduction of a basic income.
As of February 2013, the initiative has 7,500 signatures.
The initiative at the campaign website:
Aloiteteksti
by Sandro Gobetti | Feb 21, 2013 | News
A public meeting on precarity and basic income has been held on November 14th at the Cultural Centre “La città del Sole” in Naples. The meeting represented an occasion to talk about precarity and the various declinations of basic income (universal basic income, citizens’ income, and guaranteed minimum income) on the very same day of the European General Strike against the E.U.’s austerity policies. The meeting has been organised by ALBA [Alliance of Labour, Public Goods and the Environment] – a new political formation launched by academics, writers, lawyers, trade unionists and others to the left of the Italian Democrats. The event has been attended by Giuseppe Allegri (Bin Italia), Roberto Ciccarelli (author of La Furia dei Cervelli [The Fury of the Brains]), Stefano Iannillo (Uds – Union of Students), and Catia Uccello (Link-Students’ Union). The debate has been coordinated by Prof. Alessandro Arienzo, a historian of political thought at the University of Naples “Federico II”.
https://www.bin-italia.org/
by Yannick Vanderborght | Jan 21, 2013 | Opinion
After an unsuccessful first attempt, the European Citizens’ Initiative for Unconditional Basic Income finally got accepted by the European Commission, thus opening the possibility for the organizers from 14 European countries to start collecting their signatures of support. Hereby starts a 12-month European-wide campaign for basic income in Europe, with the goal of collecting one million signatures.
The citizens committee members got it right not to give up after the EU commission rejected the first attempt, back in september. Indeed, the second attempt was finally accepted, the citizens committee members were noticed on the 14th of January in a communication by Klaus Sambor, the head organizer of the initiative.
Under the European Citizens Initiative (ECI) new procedure, the EU commission must certify that the goal of the initiative submitted by citizens falls under its competences and attribution before citizens start collecting signatures, so that they don’t do it for nothing.
Following the first rejection by the EU commission, which stated at the time that the proposal “manifestly fall outside the framework of the Commission’s powers to submit a proposal for a legal act of the Union for the purpose of implementing the Treaties”, the citizens committee decided in Munich to keep on working on a second attempt, with the main objective of having it accepted by the EU commission.
Citizens met again in Firenze (Italy) and, after discussion and consensus, submitted a new proposal – the one that just got accepted by the commission. In order to meet the commission’s requirements, the new text (available here on the website’s commission), does not demand a “legal act”, but instead requests the commission to explore the feasibility of a European basic income. What fiscal harmonization would be necessary for implementing a basic income in the EU? What would a basic income imply for other social policies and labor rights? These questions must find clear answers. Hence the new title of the initiative: “Unconditional Basic Income (UBI) – Exploring a pathway towards emancipatory welfare conditions in the EU”.
This can be done by organizing conferences, calling for studies, giving subsidies and any other means the commission has. Long story short, we’re asking the commission to make a serious case for the implementation of basic income in Europe, and to feed the debate on how to do it in a harmonized way inside the European Union. As we expected, this request could hardly be rejected by the commission.
Now the next step is to have the online signature collection system be authenticated as ‘secure’ by the EU authorities, so that people can directly sign the initiative online. The ECI citizens committee decided to use the system and servers provided by the EU Commission in Luxembourg, which implies a delay.
In other words, citizens cannot sign online yet, but of course we will let them know as soon as they can through our facebook page.
If we collect more than one million signatures, then the commission will offer a hearing to the organizers at the European Parliament in Brussels. The EU commission will then have to accept or refuse the demand expressed by citizens, and give justifications for it.
We admit, our demand is very modest – and the results highly hypothetical. But one has to start somewhere. In France, the ECI has inspired and empowered groups of citizens who are now working hard to create a broader social movement. Being at the front line of this, I can assure you: nothing would have happened without such a challenge like the ECI.
And this is why I completely agree with Philippe Van Parijs, who said in a message of support to the organizers: “Whatever the exact wording and whatever the number of signatures that will ultimately gathered, it is good to seize this new opportunity for spreading the idea of basic income far beyond the circles in which it has been thought about so far. The challenge presented by the mobilization of a civil society spread over 27 countries and speaking 23 different official languages is huge. But is is definitely worth taking on.”
The road may be long, but the way is clearly free. Let’s make it a historical campaign!
by Sandro Gobetti | Dec 1, 2012 | News
A public meeting on precarity and basic income has been held on November 14th at the Cultural Centre “La città del Sole” in Naples. The meeting represented an occasion to talk about precarity and the various declinations of basic income (universal basic income, citizens’ income, and guaranteed minimum income) on the very same day of the European General Strike against the E.U.’s austerity policies. The meeting has been organised by ALBA [Alliance of Labour, Public Goods and the Environment] – a new political formation launched by academics, writers, lawyers, trade unionists and others to the left of the Italian Democrats. The event has been attended by Giuseppe Allegri (Bin Italia), Roberto Ciccarelli (author of La Furia dei Cervelli [The Fury of the Brains]), Stefano Iannillo (Uds – Union of Students), and Catia Uccello (Link-Students’ Union). The debate has been coordinated by Prof. Alessandro Arienzo, a historian of political thought at the University of Naples “Federico II”.
https://www.bin-italia.org/
