We sigh the European initiative for an Unconditional Basic Income here.

Organized for the public by the Athens Hub ambassador of Thousand Network (https://thousandnetwork.com/) Alexandros Pagidas.
Generously hosted by TheCube: http://thecube.gr/

On 19 & 20 March there was an inspiring public conference ‘Unconditional Basic Income as a Response to Inequalities in Europe’ in Maribor, Slovenia which attracted over 80 participants from 17 countries. Over the following two days Unconditional Basic Income Europe met to agree a common strategy to expand the European movement for basic income and get concrete results by 2020.

Unconditional Basic Income Europe, which was born from after the European Citizens Initiative for Unconditional Basic Income in 2013, celebrated its foundation last year at a major conference in Brussels. Since then, we have been busy getting UBI-Europe officially registered as a non-profit association under Belgian law and consolidating our membership. In the meantime, the movement kept growing through our network of national-level organisations where most of our activists have been focusing their energy.

It was time to get together again and discuss our common vision for Europe and shape a strategy to achieve our goals. Such was the purpose of our meeting in Maribor, Slovenia this March.

Objective for 2020: Have UBI in at least one European Country and an EU-wide step towards an emancipatory UBI

Such a step could be achieved by the introduction of a partial basic income scheme as outlined in the Eurodividend proposal elaborated by prominent UBI advocate Philippe van Parijs, or through alternative proposals like a basic income for children.

Whatever they might be, the meeting agreed that any such first steps should not harm current social protection systems and degrade the situation of the majority, and especially not the poorest. On the contrary they should improve social protection systems and contribute to reducing social inequalities within countries, and within the European Union.

In order to achieve our goal, UBI-Europe identifies 4 strategic orientations for 2015:

• Make basic income a mainstream topic in Europe

• Intensify our lobbying activities in order to leverage support among EU policymakers – and facilitate cooperation between them

• Assert the feasibility of and arguments for UBI as an attractive alternative for Europe

• Expand UBI-Europe as a diverse grassroots movement

Several projects contributing to these aims were discussed at the meeting in Maribor. We are in the process of elaborating a more detailed action plan. Our next steps will be unveiled as we are working on them.

UBI-Europe stands against austerity and undemocratic Treaties

UBI-Europe is aware, that the crisis management of the EU and their austerity policy is a severe obstacle for UBI. So we are part of the struggles to overcome them. This is why UBI-Europe has decided to join the Stop-TTIP campaign.

“The TTIP agreement is a danger for social standards in the EU. The EU must address its own humanitarian, social and economic governance problems before further opening up its trade. By giving multinational corporations the right to overturn decisions by European governments it also hinders attempts to make Europe more democratic,“ said Klaus Sambor, co-founder of UBI-Europe and member of ATTAC Austria.

UBI-Europe supports efforts towards improving the European Citizens Initiative

In order to get the EU to move towards new radical solutions such as basic income, UBI-Europe also acknowledge the need for more democratic institutions in the EU.

One of the key pillars for a better European Union should be a significant improvement of the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) instrument. “Our own experience with organising one of the first ECIs shows the ECI is not yet citizen-friendly and suffers from many unnecessary obstacles, especially the data requirements. This is why we fully support the ECI Campaign in its effort to reform the ECI. Their proposals are completely reasonable and are sorely needed to avoid the ECI being abandoned by civil society.” said Stanislas Jourdan, former coordinator for the ECI for Unconditional Basic Income which collected 300,000 signatures in 2013.

Welcome to our new board

Our general meeting also was the opportunity to elect UBI-Europe’s new official board. Congratulations to our newly elected members:

• Chair: Barbara Jacobson (United Kingdom)

• Vice Chair: Lena Stark (Sweden

• Vice Chair: Vahur Luhtsalu (Estonia)

• Treasurer: Quentin Fabri (Belgium)

• Secretary: Marlies Kunnen (Netherlands / UK)

• Co-ordinator: Stanislas Jourdan (France)

Follow our next steps!

If you want to join our efforts to make UBI a reality in Europe, signup as a supporter here and watch for upcoming announcements. Donations would be warmly appreciated in order to keep us running and facilitate the organisation of our upcoming projects! In fact, if every of our 40,000 supporters donate 5 euros, we would be able to fund all UBI-Europe’s activities for the coming year and more.

Unconditional Basic Income Europe

In the letter send to the Eurogroup by the Finance Miniter, concerning the program of the Greek Government, there is a reference to a Basic Income using the term Guaranteed Basic Income:

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN0LS0V520150224?irpc=932

In the Greek version, the term Guaranteed Income (Εγγυημένο Εισόδημα) is used:
http://www.nooz.gr/economy/olokliri-i-epistoli-sta-agglika

This reference is in the context of facing the humanitarian crises and the reform of the welfare policy for certain ages pention. The letter also refers to the evaluation and extention of the Minimum Guranteed Income scheme that already exists.

A vision of the future:

If not NOW? When?

Turning Crisis into an Opportunity for an Unconditional Basic Income in Europe

UBIE Conference

Athens, 26-28 September 2014

Melina Merkouri Cultural Center

66 Irakleidon & Thessalonikis street

We invite you to participate with UBIE (Universal Basic Income Europe) in a day of talks, brainstorming and planning about the future of emancipation in Europe and beyond.

UBIE is a network of organisations and individuals from 25 European countries who have different cultures and languages, but a common view that an Unconditional Basic Income is a sustainable and long term solution for our societies.

We work together to promote the idea of an unconditional basic income until we get its implementation everywhere in Europe, and its recognition as a universal human right.

Why this event?

Unconditional Basic Income is not a very well-known in Greece. The crisis, huge unemployment and media propaganda create desperate and very often hypnotized citizens.

In a country where finding a job with a salary of 400 euro per month sounds like a BLESSING, basic income may not seem like a priority.

But it is in this environment, where there is now a great need for the implementation of Unconditional Basic Income. Austerity, unemployment, poverty, [widening inequalities of wealth, education and access to meaningful employment] and the lack of democracy are red warning signals that Europe needs basic income more than ever before.

This conference will be a unique opportunity to attract a wider audience (the Precariat audience) so that more people will know and understand the concept and the importance of basic income for their lives and our society.

Schedule

LUNCH

WORKSHOPS

Place: Melina Merkouri Cultural Center, 66 Irakleidon & Thessalonikis street

17.45 – 18:15 COFFEE BREAK

CONFERENCE

Moderator: Philippos Dragoumis (Greek UBI team )

After event

After the end of the conference, on Friday the 26th of September, we organised an event for all of you. We are going to walk into the 'underground', offtrack neighborhoods of the city and see the places that tourists never visit. Then, we are going to have dinner at a traditional taverna with great Greek food (price per person around 12 euro).

So, get ready to experience the real face of Athens!

To register for the event, send an email with your name with the subject “UBIE Athens Registration” to info@www.basicincome.gr.

26 days are left to complete the signature collection phase. We need your help for a final sprint

If you have a blog or a page please put up a banner from here and connect to http://sign.basicincome2013.eu

Also, if you need an article don't hesitate to contact us here: info@www.basicincome.gr

Thank you,

The Greek team for the Basic Income Initiative

On the 28th of November, 24 members of the European Parliament from 11 different European Countries issued a joint statement (pdf) expressing their support for the European Citizen’s Initiative (ECI) for Unconditional Basic Income. This calls upon the European Commission to assess the idea of reforming current national social security arrangements towards an unconditional basic income (UBI).

UBI is a regular, universal payment to everyone without means-testing or work conditions. It should be high enough to guarantee everyone a dignified existence. It would let people make choices about what to do in life without fear of poverty. It would act as a cushion for the increasing numbers of people who have short-term or zero-hour contracts, and those starting up their own businesses.

Many financing schemes have been elaborated over the years in several countries. The European Initiative for UBI is asking for further studies to be started at the EU level.

The MEPs ask all Europeans to support this initiative. All EU citizens eligible to vote can support this ECI either via the internet (http://sign.basicincome2013.eu) or on paper. One million signatures are needed by 14 January 2014 to make sure it lands on the EC’s desk.

The current social security systems are demeaning and inadequate in addressing the roots of poverty, the MEPs emphasize.

“Unconditional Basic Income would transform social security from a compensatory system into an emancipatory system, one that trusts people to make their own decisions, and does not stigmatise them for their circumstances,” the statement says.

“We believe a new form of social security is urgently needed as social security systems in individual countries become increasingly conditional and punitive, they undermine individual dignity, form barriers to civic participation and deepen divisions in European society both across and within national borders.”

They also said this new form of social security is far simpler than existing (often chaotic and burdensome) systems, would help balance income disparities and could help mitigate the social and racial tensions caused by economic migration.

Signatories:

Martin EHRENHAUSER, independent (Austria)
Phillippe LAMBERTS, Greens (Belgium)
Nikola VULJANIĆ, Left (Croatian)
Tarja CRONBERG, Greens (Finland)
Satu HASSI, Greens (Finland)
Catherine GREZE, Greens (France)
Eva JOLY, Greens (France)
José BOVÉ, Greens (France)
Karima DELLI, Greens (France)
Malika BENARAB-ATTOU, Greens (France)
Michèle RIVASI, Greens (France)
Gerald HÄFNER, Greens (Germany)
Ska KELLER, Greens (Germany)
Nikos CHRISOGELOS, Greens (Greece)
Brian CROWLEY, ALDE (Ireland)
Emer COSTELLO, Social Democrats (Ireland)
Liam AYLWARD, ALDE (Ireland)
Nessa CHILDERS, independent (Ireland)
Sean KELLY, Christian Democrats (Ireland)
Pat the Cope Callagher, ALDE (Ireland)
Georges BACH, Christian Democrats (Luxembourg)
Claude TURMES, Greens (Luxembourg)
Carl SCHLYTER, Greens (Sweden)
Jean LAMBERT, Greens (UK)

[update 29/11] Olga SEHNALOVÁ, Keith TAYLOR, Bart STAES and Yves COCHET also brought their support.

[update 30/11] Isabelle DURANT was added

[update 05/12] Jean-Paul BESSET and Nicole KIIL-NIELSEN joined their support

1) Basic Income will help us rethink how & why we work

A basic income can help you do other work and reconsider old choices: It will enable you to retrain, safe in the knowledge that you’ll have enough money to maintain a decent standard of living while you do. It will therefore help each of us to decide what it is we truly want to do.

2) Basic Income will contribute to better working conditions

With the insurance of having unconditional basic income as a safety net, workers can challenge their employers if they find their conditions of work unfair or degrading.

3) Basic Income will downsize bureaucracy

Because a basic income scheme is one of the most simple tax / benefits models, it will reduce all the bureaucracy surrounding the welfare state thus making it less complex and costly, while being fairer and more emancipatory.

4) Basic income will make benefit fraud obsolete

As an extension of (3), benefit fraud will vanish as a possibility because no one needs to commit fraud to get a basic income: it is granted automatically. Moreover, an unconditional basic income will fix the threshold and poverty trap effects induced by the current means-tested schemes.

5) Basic income will help reducing inequalities

A basic income is also a means for sharing out the wealth produced by a society to all people thereby reducing the growing inequalities across the world.

6) It will provide a more secure and substantial safety net for all people

Most existing means-tested anti-poverty schemes exclude people because of their complexity, or because people don’t even know how to apply or whether they qualify. With a basic income, people currently excluded from benefit allowances will automatically have their rights guaranteed.

7) Basic Income will contribute to less working hours and better distribution of jobs

With a basic income, people will have the option to reduce their working hours without sacrificing their income. They will therefore be able to spend more time doing other things they find meaningful. At the macroeconomic level, this will induce a better distribution of jobs because people reducing their hours will increase the jobs opportunities for those currently excluded from the labor market.

8) Basic Income will reward unpaid contributions

A huge number of unpaid activities are currently not recognized as economic contributions. Yet, our economy increasingly relies on these free contributions (think about wikipedia as well as the work parents do). A Basic Income would recognise and reward theses activities.

9) Basic Income will strengthen our Democracy

With a minimum level of security guaranteed to all citizens and less time in work or worrying about work, innovation in political, social, economic and technological terms would be a made more lively part of everyday life and its concerns.

10) Basic Income is a fair redistribution of technological advancement

Thanks to massive advancements in our technological and productive capacities the world of work is changing. Yet most of our wealth and technology is as a consequence of our ‘standing on the shoulders of giants’: We are wealthier not as a result of our own efforts and merits but those of our ancestors. Basic income is a way to civilize and redistribute the advantages of that on-going advancement.

and one more….

11) Basic Income will end extreme financial poverty

Because we live in a world where we have the means (and one hopes, the will) to end the kinds of suffering we see as a supposedly constant feature of our surroundings. Basic income is a way to join together the means and the will.

Source: http://basicincome.org.uk/reasons-support-basic-income/

With less than 90 days remaining, Slovenia has become the second coutnry to reach the target.

Our congratulations. We go on to get 1 million signatures. We are now at critical mass and every day more people learn about the initiative.