GERMANY: high court demands a “dignified minimum” for all citizens

by | Oct 23, 2010 | News

The German Constitutional Court ruled last February that current welfare policies are unconstitutional because they do not meet a standard of “dignified minimum.” The government is now discussing revisions of its welfare policies to meet that standard. The outcome is not likely to be exactly a basic income guarantee, but it does seem that the German Constitutional Court believes that providing an income that allows for a dignified minimum for all citizens is a duty of the state. The movement for basic income in Germany has made great strides recently. More than thirty members of the German Parliament endorse the idea. The Basic Income Earth Network will hold its 2012 conference in Munich.

An article in Deutsche Welle on this issue is online at:
https://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5231015,00.html

GERMANY: Basic Income Movement Gains Strength

by | Aug 12, 2010 | News

The basic income movement has gained strength in Germany recently. It is even gaining popularity among members of the right-of-center Christian Democrat Party. According to City Journal, Dieter Althaus, the former premier of the German state of Thuringia, leads a growing block of Christian Democrats who believe that basic income is the only way that Germany can meet its constitutional duty to provide material dignity for all cities without distorting the labor market. They also argue that basic income would save the state money and simplify its bureaucracy.

See: “German free marketeers turn to an innovative idea” by Cameron Abadi, City Journal, Spring 2010, vol. 20, no. 2: https://www.city-journal.org/2010/20_2_snd-basic-income.html