SWITZERLAND: Government reacts negatively to UBI proposal

SWITZERLAND: Government reacts negatively to UBI proposal

by | Aug 29, 2014 | News

The Swiss government opposes the popular intiative for an unconditional basic income, but the national referendum is still to happen in 2016.

The Swiss Federal Council has released its evaluation of the popular initiative for an unconditional basic income (UBI), which received enough signatures last fall to trigger a nationwide referendum on it. The Federal Council evaluates all people’s initiatives in Switzerland making one of three recommendations: it could accept, reject, or no recommendation. The council chose to reject the initiative. The initiative will still take place sometime in 2016, the rejection means simply that the council recommends that citizens vote no on the proposal.

Enno Schmidt & Daniel Straub, the two main organizers of the people’s initiative said, “This is nothing special. We expected this.” The function of a people’s initiative is to bypass the government and go directly to the people even against the ruling government’s wishes.

The Federal Council also release a statement justifying its rejection of the initiative. The statement alleged many shortcomings of UBI, including: many low-paid jobs would probably disappear or be transferred abroad, Women would be forced back into the housework and care work. Taxes would rise considerably to finance the basic income and further weaken the incentive to work. The amount of the UBI proposed is too large and cannot be financed. It contradicts the principle of subsidiarity. The statement also defended the existing social system is in Switzerland. The Federal Council agreed with the founders of the initiative that each person has to be able to can live a life in dignity but argued that Switzerland achieves that goal with its existing system.

Schmidt & Straub’s reaction to the statement was mixed, “The tone of the message is fair, no nasty insinuations and no polemic.” But, according to Schmidt & Straub, the substance of statement implied that Switzerland would perish if this initiative were accepted by the people.

Philippe Van Parijs, of the Basic Income Earth Network said that this statement was an opportunity for Basic Income supporters “to point out the misunderstandings [in the statement] and to work out realistic scenarios in terms of amount and funding.”

For more information (in German) see:

Enno Schmidt & Daniel Straub, “Botschaft des Bundesrates über das bedingungslose Grundeinommen, [Report of the Federal Council on the unconditional Grundeinommen],” Volksinitiative Grundeinkommen, August 2014.

News.Admin.ch, “Bundesrat lehnt die Volksinitiative ‘Für ein bedingungsloses Grundeinkommen» [Bundesrat rejects the popular initiative “for an unconditional basic income’],” News.Admin.ch, 27, 08, 2014.

Didier Burkhalter, “Botschaft zur Volksinitiative «Für ein bedingungsloses Grundeinkommen» [Message Regarding the People’s Initiative ‘for an unconditional basic income’],” the Swiss Federal Council, 2014.

Aagauer Zeitung, “Bundesrat lehnt Initiative für bedingungsloses Grundeinkommen ab [Bundesrat rejects initiative for unconditional basic income].” Aagauer Zeitung, 27, 08, 2014.

For more information in French see:

Ludwig Gärtner, “Conseil fédéral suisse : Le Conseil fédéral rejette l’initiative populaire ‘Pour un revenu de base inconditionnel,’ [Swiss Federal Council, the Federal Council rejects the popular initiative ‘For an unconditional basic income’]” Zonebourse, 27/08/2014

Enno Schimdt contributed to this article.

"8 Millionen Fünfräppler auf Bundesplatz bei Initiative-Einreichung" -Aagauer Zeitung

“8 Millionen Fünfräppler auf Bundesplatz bei Initiative-Einreichung” -Aagauer Zeitung

EUROPE: Francophone activists launch a newspaper on basic income

EUROPE: Francophone activists launch a newspaper on basic income

by | Jul 31, 2014 | News

Hoping to raise awareness on basic income and reach new people, the activists from France, Belgium and Switzerland have decided to work together on a project aiming at launching a newspaper called L’inconditionnel, (The Unconditional).

Initiated by Stanislas Jourdan & Barbara Garbarczyk, the project will evolve as a joint-venture between BIEN affiliates in France, Belgium and Switzerland. The project coordinators aim at printing more than 50,000 issues and will distribute them for free at all events planned during the Basic Income Week (September 15-21) in the three countries.

In order to finance the printings, they have started a crowdfunding campaign. “We would need at least 5,000 euros to print 25,000 newspapers of 12 pages. Ideally, we want 12,000€ in order to print more than 50,000 newspapers, 20 pages each. Our objective is definitely ambitious, said Stanislas Jourdan, but we are sure that basic income supporters will understand the impact this project could have for all of us. The more money we have, the more we can print issues, the more people we will reach.”

Organizers have asked people to support the project by participating to the crowdfunding campaign.

Stan Jourdan, editor

Stan Jourdan, editor

The newspaper will include articles, interviews, and graphics explaining how to finance basic income. “The point of the newspaper is to gather the best of what people need to know. Instead of flooding people with links on basic income, we hope this newspaper will provide all the essential informations to understand the idea and its consequences.” explained Barbara Garbarczyk.

“For now, we are working on a single publication newspaper,” Stanislas Jourdan said, “but of course further editions will be envisaged if the first issue is a success.”

For more information on the project, see the newspaper’s website: L’inconditionnel – journal sur le revenu de base.

Enno Schmidt, “How a ‘stupid painter from Switzerland’ is revolutionizing work”

by | May 31, 2014 | Research

Enno Schmidt, “How a ‘stupid painter from Switzerland’ is revolutionizing work”, PBS Newshour, 9th April 2014.

The leader of the Swiss movement for a guaranteed basic income explains why even if the Swiss people vote against the referendum, the basic income will still have won. Photo by Flickr user Kopf oder Zahl.

The leader of the Swiss movement for a guaranteed basic income explains why even if the Swiss people vote against the referendum, the basic income can still claim a victory. Above, Generation Basic Income activists pose with the 8 million coins they dumped in front of the Swiss parliament last fall. Photo by Flickr user Kopf oder Zahl.