[Debatte-Grundeinkommen] Fwd: 285,042 European citizens want the EC to consider basic income – UBI Press Release after the ECI-UBI campaign

[willi uebelherr]

Liebe Freunde,

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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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