by Red Renta Basica | Nov 12, 2012 | Opinion
A Popular Legislative Initiative (PLI) for a Guaranteed Citizenship Income (GCI), already being presented to the network of notaries, and once to the Catalan Parliament, will start to collect signatures for the next 4 months.
Syndicalist and collective entities giving their support to the PLI will have to make an important effort in order to get at least 50,000 signatures.
The reasons of such an Initiative:
This PLI is the fruit of many months of preparation work, to be able to answer to the important crisis situation of the Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA). Its value is only 412 euros (far under the poverty threshold) that was brought under the Mas government, on summer 2011. It allows a right be subjective and comes to be linked to the budget’s disposition. It did not actualize, depending on Consumer Price Index (CPI), is unable to exceed International Money System (IMS) and was fixed to a maximum period of 5 years to perceive it. It puts aside people with “only” unemployment matters and not showing added social difficulties, having to live at the same place for 1 or 2 years to get it. Finally, the JSA was totally mutilated by Convergence And Union’s (CiU) government from right, and despite protestations from social organisms, the social services, syndicates and other agencies were integrated in the fiscal and financial measures Law approved on the 14th of March 2011 parliamentary session.
Consequences of such a measure:
Far from improving unemployment, poverty, and social exclusion situation of this summer 2011, the poverty rate was estimated at about 25% of the population. Nearly 32% of Catalans’ families have difficulty making ends meet. Tens of thousands persons don’t have means to live. The number of persons living in the streets, under bridges, or close to cash machines increased by 32%, and the median age of homeless people dead in the street last summer was 58 years old.
Effects researched by this Initiative:
These are reasons why the PLI for a GCI is very important in this period. Red Renta Basica [the Spanish Basic Income Network) has been present since the beginning in its elaboration. Without setting any Universal Basic Income, as defended by our association, we believe this PLI is necessary in those moments of important economic depression. The proposition considerably improves the JSA that Catalan’s government has left aside. The GCI is clearly higher than existing JSA in the different Autonomous Communities, first by its ability to get back a subjective right, second by its non-arbitrariness since it is an income with for value the level of a sufficiency income in Catalonia (about 600 euros), and finally by the fact it is given during the whole time while the recipient lacks income.
(translated by Florian Martinon)
by Karl Widerquist | Oct 18, 2012 | News
European Alternatives has posted an attractive animated video presenting reasons for Basic Income on YouTube. In English, with Italian subtitles, it is currently being used to support the Italian campaign for a minimum income. According to European Alternatives, “Anyone is welcome to use and disseminate the video for our common cause.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxBbi3hlXkU
by BIEN Ireland | Sep 19, 2012 | Research
This new book by Danny Dorling (University of Sheffield) includes a 8 pages discussion of basic income in the British context. Dorling seems to be very supportive of the idea, including at EU-level: “Imagine how much money would be saved”, he writes, “if a basic income one day replaced all the numerous different benefit and taxation systems existing accross the whole of the European Union. How else could Europe ever have a unified system of social security to go with its free movement of labor?” (p.160).
Full references: DORLING, Danny (2012), The no-nonsense guide to equality, Oxford: New Internationalist.
For further information on the book, see:
https://www.dannydorling.org/books/equality/Homepage.html
by Yannick Vanderborght | Aug 30, 2012 | News
International Conference: “Universal Basic Income: For a New Social Contract in Europe”
We live in a time when the circumstances in the global economic and political market make it necessary to examine new models not only of the welfare state, but the entire concept of labour in postmodern society. Universal Basic Income (UBI) is just such an idea, which offers questions, answers, suggestions and solutions that do not dependent on an individual’s work requirements, but place the individual, equality and freedom at the very heart of understanding the state.
The international conference “Universal Basic Income: For a New Social Contract in Europe”, which will take place between 11 and 12 October at the Ljubljana (Slovenia) Exhibition and Convention Centre, will be an excellent opportunity to exchange opinions about the challenges of the postmodern world and hold an important discussion on the possibility of introducing UBI in Slovenia.
The conference will bring together leading theoreticians on UBI and the social welfare state and open the space for an international discussion and an exchange of global experiences on this topic. Among the keynote speakers will be: Prof. Philippe Van Parijs, world’s authority on UBI; Prof. Guy Standing, co-founder of BIEN, and Klaus Sambor, BIEN Austria. Slovenian experts and academicians will also present their views, among them Prof. Jože Mencinger and Dr Igor Pribac.
The international meeting is organised by the Novum Institute (Slovenia) and the European Liberal Forum with the support of Projekt: Polska. It is funded by the European Parliament.
Attendance at the conference is free of charge; participants can register online (there is a limited number of seats). You can find the draft programme at https://www.inovum.si/ubi/. For all other information, please contact the organizers at info@inovum.si.
by Karl Widerquist | Aug 21, 2012 | News
ECOSY (the European Community Organisation of Socialist Youth) hosted a public debate on basic income at a seminar in a summer camp on July 21 in Savudrija, Croatia. ECOSY is the umbrella organization of the youth wings of the socialist and social democratic parties of Europe. David Lizoain, Secretary for Europe and the Economy of the Socialist Youth of Spain, defended the concept, which is official policy of the organization as of their last congress. Esa Suominen, adviser to the president of the service union of Finland, spoke against the idea. The debate was marked by a friendly exchange, and the Nordic delegates expressed a greater skepticism in general about the basic income. Later, Esa Suominen noted that it was positive to be able to debate the basic income in a calm setting, because the debate in Finland has a highly partisan nature, meaning that no one can enter into the ideas in depth.
Website of the Young European Socialists: https://www.youngsocialists.eu/
