The charming city of Ljubljana hosted an inspiring meeting of European basic income experts and activists end of July.
On Friday, 21 July UBIE co-organised an expert workshop with the title “Basic Income for Europe”, together with the NOVUM Institute and the European Liberal Forum. They discussed in-depth on partial basic income proposals for the European level with a focus on concrete legal changes, possible economic and social outcomes. This was rounded up by a review of ongoing and planned pilot projects from various European countries.
Several members of UBIE contributed with presentations:
- François Denuit gave an introduction to the Eurodividend proposal;
- Aurelie Hampel presented the idea of Agrarian Basic Income;
- Ulrich Schachtschneider argued for ecological financing of the Eurodividend;
- Former economics minister of Slovenia Jože Mencinger spoke about macroeconomic impacts of a Eurodividend on EU member countries;
- Valerija Korosec presented the Slovenian partial basic income model she developed and brought into the public debate of her country;
- “Quantitative easing for all” was the issue of Stanislas Jourdan;
- Barb Jacobson discussed the necessary change of the definitions of productivity and labour;
- Anja Askeland and Dániel Fehér gave an overview about former as well as prospective pilot projects;
- Heikki Hiilamo (Finland) showed first results and political backgrounds of the Finnish experiment.
On Saturday and Sunday, 22-23 July, about 25 members of Unconditional Basic Income Europe came together for a creative working weekend in the highly inspiring co-working space “Poligon”. The aim of the meeting was to advance on joint projects, prepare campaigns and work on organisational development. Topics included Social Media, applying the Theory of Change concept for UBIE campaigns, plans for a Eurodividend conference, a concept for a new European Citizens Initiative or a campaign idea on a European Child Benefit.
Here are some photos of the workshop and the weekend (see all on Flickr):
