by Andre Coelho | Jun 3, 2019 | News
Just before the latest European Parliament (EP) elections, held on the 23-26th of May 2019, the Unconditional Basic Income Europe (UBIE) activist group sent out a questionnaire to be answered by candidates, on the subject of basic income. The questions asked for their position on the European social policies, whether they would support European Union (EU) basic income experiments, and if they would vote in favour of a Eurodividend. That questionnaire was inserted in an introductory letter, to be sent to all EP candidates, written by Daniel Kruse.
Only a fraction of EP candidates actually responded, but those that did can find their answers posted here. These views, reflecting the opinions of these candidates from Belgium, Germany, Greece and Ireland, are mostly in favour of experimenting and implementing an EU-wide basic income, with a few variations. For instance, Olivier De Schutter argues that basic income should start for the youngsters, namely those between 18 and 25 years-old, fixed at 60% of the median income of their country. On the other hand, however, Olivier Maingain points out that paying a monthly basic dividend to all EU citizens is not within EU’s powers, at the moment.
Willie O’Dea, from the Fianna Fáil party in Ireland (which had also setup a candidate for the EP elections, Brendan Smith), had written, not long before these EP elections, an opinion article expressing his views on basic income, within a European perspective. In that article, O’Dea also takes the opportunity to clarify a few important aspects about the Finnish (basic income) experiment, linking its design features to its published results until now. According to him, these results are not surprising, given the way the experiment was setup, but are still encouraging, since he considers the social well-being of people to be “real and measurable tangible benefits”.
More information at:
Willie O’Dea, “Universal income pilot could point to a fairer future”, Independent.IE, April 7th 2019
by Kate McFarland | Apr 14, 2017 | News
BIEN’s European affiliate, Unconditional Basic Income Europe (UBIE), held its latest annual meeting March 24-26, 2017, in London, UK. UBIE elected a new board at the meeting.
UBIE’s annual meeting began on the evening of Friday, March 24, with “Basic Income and the Europe we want”. At this public event, nine representatives from nine different countries — Portugal, Spain, Netherlands, Austria, Germany, the UK, Sweden, and France — shared reports on the current status of the basic income discussion in their respective nations.
Events on Saturday, March 25, featured speakers from the British trade unions GMB (which passed a pro-UBI motion in June 2016), Unite (which passed a pro-UBI motion in July 2016), and Unison (which has been “looking into” UBI over the course of the past year). Participants from UBIE described the event as a “very enriching and inspiring discussion for countries struggling to get in touch with their national unions”.
Later on Saturday, UBIE members met for workshops on topics such as a new European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) for basic income and lobbying the EU for basic income pilot studies or a a Eurodividend (a partial basic income paid to all Europeans).
The General Assembly, including the annual election of board members, convened on Sunday. As in previous years, UBIE employed an “election without candidates” process to select its board: each member nominated five individuals for the board, and those who obtain the most nominations were asked if they agreed to serve, proceeding down the list until all five spots have been filled. As a result of this process, the following board members were elected in 2017 (see more information about each here):
Chair: Dániel Fehér. Fehér, who now lives in Berlin, Germany, has been a member of UBIE’s board since 2015, and has assisted with its lobbying and publicity efforts since 2013. He was also active with the campaign for the ECI while living in Brussels.
Vice-Chair: Anja Askeland. Askeland served as BIEN’s Secretary from 2014 through 2016, and was a cofounder of BIEN’s Norwegian affiliate, Borgerlønn BIEN Norge, in 2012.
Vice-Chair: Lena Stark. Stark has been a member of UBIE’s board since 2015. She has also recently started a basic income political party in Sweden.
Secretary: Aurélie Hampel. Hampel is the international Coordinator of the French Movement for Basic Income. She is also active in campaigns for an “EU agrarian UBI” in France.
Treasurer: Ulrich Schachtschneider. Schachtschneider is active in German basic income movement and an activist and writer, having published considerably on an ecological approach to basic income.
Left to Right: Aurélie Hampel, Anja Askeland, Ulrich Schachtschneider, Lena Stark, Dániel Fehér
Barb Jacobson stepped down from the board at the meeting, after having served as its Chair since the formation of UBIE in February 2014. She commented, “It’s great to see some fresh faces, and it is time for me to concentrate on some specific UBIE and Basic Income UK projects. It has been a real honour. I’m looking forward to working with the new board and wish them all the best.” Former Secretary Nicole Teke also stepped down, following two years of service.
Following its first meeting, the new board of UBIE stated, “We feel that we are entering a new phase for basic income at the EU level,” calling the latest annual meeting “an opportunity to reaffirm UBIE’s goals” including the investigation of potential EU funding for basic income pilots and further research on the idea of a Eurodividend. The board further remarked, “It was an important moment of transition. UBIE is taking steps to formulate a more structured strategy using methodologies presented during the General Assembly. A wider team of volunteers was built to develop external communication, [and] workshops on a new ECI, the FutureLab exhibition project and basic income parties forming in Europe were also successful.”
Further updates from the new board will be shared in the UBIE newsletter.
Information and photos from Aurélie Hampel.
Post reviewed by Dave Clegg.
by BIEN | Oct 9, 2016 | News
Unconditional Basic Income Europe (UBIE), a regional affiliate of BIEN, has begun to raise funds through the crowdfunding platform Open Collective.
UBIE works to secure the implementation of unconditional basic income across Europe.
The organization formed in 2014 after the European Citizens Initiative (ECI) for Basic Income had, in the previous year, brought together people from 25 countries and collected 300,000 signatures in support of the idea.
Since then, UBIE has worked with regional basic income groups to organise public events in Brussels, Athens, Maribor, Budapest, Maastricht and Hamburg. Its members are currently looking forward to their next meeting in Madrid, 14-16 October which will feature a public roundtable with Spanish, French, Swiss and Scandinavian activists and BIEN co-chair Karl Widerquist. The event concludes, fittingly, on the eve of the UN’s International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (17 October).
In addition to supporting and exchanging information with regional groups, UBIE is actively engaged in lobbying and research projects. At the moment, UBIE members are writing a response to the EU’s Social Pillar proposals, developing ways to practically implement the Eurodividend first proposed by Philippe van Parijs, gathering interested localities into an EU-wide pilot project, researching the potential impact of basic income on local food systems, and organising to make sure another EU-wide ECI for basic income gains even more support than the last.
Despite having existed for only two years, UBIE was mentioned in a recent report by a research group for the European Parliament as one of the ‘key civil society organisations’ working on basic income in Europe.
So far, UBIE has been run entirely by volunteers working in their spare time. In order to fulfill its ambitions and expand its reach, however, the alliance wants to professionalise some aspects of its work. Money is needed to maintain the ‘back office’ aspects of the alliance, to help activists travel to meetings, to hire interpreters and, eventually, to staff a small office in Brussels.
Open Collective provides a transparent funding platform where contributors can make regular donations and follow how their money is being spent, while organisations can crowdsource a regular and reliable funding stream.
If you would like to support UBIE’s work, please follow this link: https://opencollective.com/ubie
by Josh Martin | Mar 11, 2015 | News
Universal Basic Income Europe (UBIE) is working with the Slovenian civil organization Zofijini Ljubimci to host a conference titled, “Unconditional Basic Income and Inequalities in Society” on March 19th and 20th in Maribor, Slovenia. With a long list of participating academics, it is sure to be a thought-provoking event.
For more details about the event, click here.
