by Yannick Vanderborght | Apr 3, 2012 | Research
In this opinion piece published by the French daily Le Monde (March 6, 2012), Philippe Van Parijs (Louvain University, Hoover Chair) compares the eurozone with the United States. Inspired by the works of Martin Feldstein and others, he argues that the eurozone will only be viable at the price of increased interpersonal solidarity. This solidarity, Van Parijs argues, should take the form of a modest individual income floor funded by VAT, i.e. a so-called “Euro-Dividend”.
The piece (in French) is online at:
https://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2012/03/06/pas-d-eurozone-viable-sans-euro-dividende_1652164_3232.html
A Dutch version has been published by the Belgian daily De Morgen: https://www.demorgen.be/dm/nl/2461/De-Gedachte/article/detail/1400934/2012/02/28/Geen-duurzame-euro-zonder-eurodividend.dhtml
by Yannick Vanderborght | Dec 26, 2011 | Opinion
European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) invite the Commission, within the framework of its powers, to submit any appropriate proposal on matters where citizens consider that a legal act of the European Union is required for the purpose of implementing the European Treaties. It is necessary that the ECI has received the support of at least one million eligible signatories coming from at least 7 of all Member States.
The ECI only offers a very limited possibility of direct participation of citizens in order to influence the European Union politics, but the ECI gives the chance, to force the EU-Commission to deal with the topic mentioned in the ECI. This is very important considering the basic legal and social situation of the EU. Decisions of the EU-Parliament, where Unconditional Basic Income (UBI) was mentioned as one possibility to prevent poverty which should be checked, have not been taken into account by the European Commission until now, the interests of citizens have been ignored.
Therefore the participants of the Vienna UBI-Symposium in Oct. 2011 (press release and fact sheets) have decided to start an ECI concerning UBI in the year 2012. With this ECI the EU-Commission is requested by the signatories to use up all its means and possibilities to speed up the introduction of a universal, individual, unconditional basic income to ensure people an existence in dignity and with participation in society.
With this ECI we hope that the discussion process concerning a UBI will be enhanced Europe-wide and that the networking between organizations and initiatives for Basic Income will be enforced.
More information to the ECI concerning UBI will be given at the 14th BIEN Congress (Munich, Germany, 14-16 September, 2012).
Ronald Blaschke, Berlin/Dresden, Netzwerk Grundeinkommen (Germany)
www.grundeinkommen.de
Klaus Sambor, Vienna, Attac basic income group (Austria)
https://community.attac.at/grundeinkommen.html
by Karl Widerquist | Dec 15, 2011 | News
At the world action day, an international initiative group announced plans to prepare and launch a European Citizens’ Initiative on the implementation of an unconditional basic income in Europe. Hosted by the Internationaler Runder Tisch Grundeinkommen (international German-speaking round table on basic income), the symposium was held in Vienna on 14/15th October 2011. In the end, 60 scientists, activists and representatives from NGOs adopted a declaration in favor of this initiative. For more information on the initiative, please contact:
Klaus Sambor <klaus.sambor@aon.at> and
Ronald Blaschke <blaschke@grundeinkommen.de>
by Karl Widerquist | Sep 11, 2011 | News
On Thursday, August 11, the Future European Network Academy for Social Movements in Freiburg, Germany held a workshop to discuss a European Citizens Initiative (ECI) for the introduction of the guaranteed Basic Income in Europe. Organizers hope to produce a text in a special meeting in October 2011 in Vienna and then begin gathering the signatures of persons which want to sign the text. The start for the ECI is planned for Sept 2012 during the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN) congress in Munich. Organizers hope to obtain signatures from 1 million persons.
Information about the initial meeting is online at:
https://www.ena2011.eu/index.php?id=8709&L=1&tx_attacforms[attacList-tt_content-22887][id]=916
Anyone who wants to support the planned ECI, can do so online at:
www.BasicIncomeInitiative.eu.
by Yannick Vanderborght | May 18, 2011 | News
In October 2010, the Parliament of the European Union has adopted a non-legislative resolution on the role of minimum income in combating poverty and promoting an inclusive society in Europe, partly thanks to the lobbying by several European Basic Income groups and networks, as well as by the European Anti-Poverty Network (EAPN). The resolution was adopted by 437 votes to 162, with 33 abstentions. The EU Parliament now urges Member States to establish a threshold for minimum income, based on relevant indicators that will guarantee social-economic cohesion, reduce the risk of uneven levels of remuneration for the same activities and lower the risk of having poor populations throughout the EU. Stressing the multifaceted nature of poverty, EU-Parliament considers that minimum income schemes should be embedded in a strategic approach towards social integration, involving both general policies and targeted measures – in terms of housing, health care, education and training, social services – helping people to recover from poverty and themselves to take action towards social inclusion and access to the labor market. Parliament points out that some member States do not have minimum income systems and called on those that do not to provide them. The resolution underlines that introducing minimum income schemes – consisting of specific measures supporting people whose income is insufficient with a funding supply and facilitated access to services – is one of the most effective ways to combat poverty, guarantee an adequate standard of living and foster social integration. According to Parliament, adequate minimum income schemes must set minimum incomes at a level equivalent to at least “60% of average income in the Member State concerned” (average, not median income, whereas the EU official poverty line is at 60% of the median).
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/oeil/file.jsp?id=5845352
