[Debatte-Grundeinkommen] Fwd: 285,042 European citizens want the EC to consider basic income – UBI Press Release after the ECI-UBI campaign
willi uebelherr
wube at gmx.net
Do Mär 13 00:05:11 CET 2014
Liebe Freunde,
diese Mail habe ich aus dem Netzwerk P2P Foundation erhalten. Vielleicht
wisst ihr mehr darueber.
mit Gruessen, willi
Quetzaltenango, Guatemala
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Von: P2P Foundation's blog <donotreply at wordpress.com>
An: willi.uebelherr at gmail.com
Post : 285,042 European citizens want the EC to consider basic income
– UBI Press Release after the ECI-UBI campaign
URL :
http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/285042-european-citizens-want-the-ec-to-consider-basic-income-ubi-press-release-after-the-eci-ubi-campaign/2014/03/11
Posted : March 11, 2014 at 8:25 pm
Author : Dorotea Mar
http://boilingfrogs.info/files/2013/04/basic-income.jpg
Extracted from basicincome2013.eu (
http://basicincome2013.eu/en/press-15012014.htm )
The European Citizens Initiative (ECI)1 for Unconditional Basic Income
(UBI)2 officially ended on Tuesday January 14th 23.59pm, after
collecting at least3 285,042 statements of support from EU citizens in
28 countries. It did not succeed, however, in collecting the one million
signatures required by the European Commission (EC) to win their
consideration of UBI as a new form of ‘emancipatory welfare’.
“We would like to thank every single supporter who signed our initiative
or promoted it,” said Klaus Sambor (Austria), general organizer of the
European committee which coordinated this initiative in 28 European
countries.
Last minute surge
During the final weeks there was a huge surge of support (see attached
graph). In Bulgaria alone 30,000 signatures were collected in the last 5
days, thanks to an impressive last-minute push by Bulgaria’s leading
trade union CITUB. “The case of Bulgaria reflects an overall
intensification of interest in basic income leading to coverage in
leading European media,” Martin Jordo (press officer, Sweden) said. Le
Monde, BBC, El Mundo, Huffington Post, Al-Jazeera, RT’s Keiser Report,
Portuguese and Bulgarian TV recently carried reports about unconditional
basic income and this ECI for it.
While the official objective was not achieved, there are many reasons
these supporters of a fairer and simpler social security system are
happy. Six countries - Bulgaria, Slovenia, Croatia, Belgium, Netherlands
and Estonia reached their signature quotas, and one, Hungary, came close
to reaching theirs. “This ECI is only the start of a European movement
towards an EU-wide basic income,” said Sambor. New groups formed in many
countries to support this campaign, and existing UBI networks were
strengthened by it.
“The momentum generated this year will carry on in 2014 to promote
unconditional basic income,” affirmed Stanislas Jourdan, organiser of
the ECI campaign in France. A new pan-European network has now formed to
pursue the same objective - to promote the practicality and benefits of
implementing UBI throughout Europe.
http://basicincome2013.eu/image/style/closing.gif
ECI process ‘too cumbersome’
The organisers do not intend to launch another ECI in 2014, however.
“The current rules are too cumbersome for grass-root groups like ours,”
explained Stanislas Jourdan. The organisers said they lost two months of
campaigning because of troubles with the implementation of the online
collection system, a result of the complicated regulations for ECIs. A
request to extend this initiative was turned down by the EC, although
such extensions have been allowed by the EC for other initiatives in the
past.
“We may consider using the ECI again in the future if the rules are
simplified, and allow better preparation for the start date,” Jourdan
said. He referred to the fact that the EU plans to reform the ECI
process by 2015.
Plans for the future
To show the popularity of the basic income concept and to challenge the
shortcomings of the ECI collection system, organisers have now launched
an online petition in collaboration with Avaaz.org, the leading
political petition site in the world. This can be found at:
http://www.avaaz.org/our_chance_to_end_poverty_PR.
"We want to play by the rules of the ECI, which is supposed to allow 12
months for the organisers to collect signatures,” Koen van Haalen
(online petition coordinator, Netherlands) explained. “The combined
results of the two petitions will be delivered to several EU authorities
and politicians to support our claim that widespread public support for
UBI is emerging.” The organisers are also exploring the possibility of
using the signatures collected during the ECI for a standard petition to
the European Parliament.
The organisers of this ECI will launch a new European campaign before
the European parliamentary elections in May. National campaigns for
unconditional basic income are also set to be launched simultaneously in
several countries.
Further actions will be announced on the website for the Initiative:
www.basicincome2013.eu ( http://www.basicincome2013.eu ) and the
corresponding Facebook page: www.facebook.com/ECI.BasicIncome (
http://www.facebook.com/ECI.BasicIncome ) .
Press material and high-resolution pictures are available on these sites
and can be freely used.
Press Contact:
Martin Jordö
contact at basicincome2013.eu ( mailto:contact at basicincome2013.eu )
+46-707206001
www.basicincome2013.eu/en/press.htm (
http://www.basicincome2013.eu/en/press.htm )
Explanatory notes:
1) The European Citizens Initiative was set up by the Lisbon Treaty as a
vehicle for giving ordinary people more of a voice at the European
Commission. Each one has to collect one million verified names,
addresses, and depending on the country, birthdays or National
identification numbers, with at least seven countries reaching their
quota of signatures set by the EC. After making an application to EC to
do an ECI, the start date is set on the date the ECI is accepted by the
EC, regardless of whether the complicated online collection system
needed for each one has been sorted out and approved for use by the EC
and verification authorities in each nation. Even paper forms were not
available until the online system was sorted out. In the case of the ECI
for Unconditional Basic Income, this process took over two months after
the official start date.
2) Unconditional basic income is a regular, universal payment to
everyone - as an individual right, without a means test or the
obligation to work or perform other services in return, and high enough
to ensure an existence in dignity and participation in society.
Supporters often cite simplicity, lack of social stigma and greater
income equality in favour of UBI. Several pilot studies of the policy
around the world have confirmed that UBI results in higher levels of
economic activity, better nutrition and other health outcomes, and
increased participation in education and community activities where it
has been tried.
3) The collation and official verification of all online signatures and
those on paper will not be completed until mid-February.
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