WHAT WE DO - UBIE - Unconditional Basic Income Europe

Unconditional Basic Income Europe’s current strategy, adopted by our General Assembly in Maribor in March 2015, defines the following four main goals for our work:

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Levy support in the EU Institutions and stakeholders and facilitate cooperation between them

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Make Unconditional Basic Income a hot topic in the mainstream world

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Assert the feasibility of and arguments for UBI and make it a credible and attractive alternative for Europe

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Activate and grow UBIE while making it appealing, fun and friendly!

We work towards these objectives by developing policy proposals and organising awarness-raising campaigns. We have also ongoing lobbying activities at EU level and organise regular meetings across Europe.

Policy Proposals

Together with experts and research organisations across Europe, we are working on policy proposals for implementing Basic Income mechanisms on the European level:

Basic Income Pilots

UBIE advocates for more Basic Income experiments throughout Europe based on jointly agreed minimum criteria, and calls on the European Union to co-finance those as well as their joint scientific evaluation. Basic Income policies could contribute to a more positive perception of the union among its citizens.

Eurodividend

Europe needs bolder and stronger instruments to counter the forces of disintegration. The Eurodividend (a partial Basic Income paid to all EU citizens) could become the policy that safeguards the EU and especially the Eurozone from asymmetric economic shocks and reconciles citizens with the idea of European integration.

Agrarian Basic Income

The current industrial food system is facing a crisis of environmental degradation, health issues and pressures on farmers livelihood. We believe in the transformative potential of a basic income to further the transition towards fairer and more sustainable food systems.

Corona-UBI

For millions across Europe, steps taken by the authorities to contain the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic meant the partial or total loss of their income. Only one instrument can immediately guarantee that no one’s economic security and existence is threatened: Basic Income.

Campaigns and Debates

UBIE initiates and supports campaigns and public debates that raise awareness and inspire action regarding Basic Income:

Mayors for Basic Income

This Working Group advocates for and takes various actions towards the implementation of Basic Income schemes on a local level throughout Europe.

Working Groups

Our active members are organising their work in groups that meet regularly, coordinating their activities around specific topics

WOW! BASIC INCOME

WOW! BASIC INCOME! is a mobile co-creative exhibition. It is intended to strike a chord, inspire and stimulate people all over Europe to think about life and the creation of an Unconditional Basic Income.

Youth Group

The UBIE Youth Group is the youth-led faction of the organisation, actively involving youth in various activities that promote the implementation of UBI from the perspective of youth in Europe.

Citizens Take Over Europe

Citizens Take Over Europe prepares the Citizens Take Over Europe’s Wednesday plenary meetings and promotes the idea of tying UBI to European Citizenship in the Conference on the Future of Europe and beyond.

Social Pillar

The EU’s Social Pillar could give a new impetus to Basic Income. It will be successful if social security becomes a civil right. This Working Group is discussing how.

Get Involved

Contribute to our projects or initiate your own!

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Lobbying

On several occasions we have managed to get unconditional basic income discussed in the European Parliament and in the Council of Europe. We submitted our position on the EU’s Social Pillar consultation to the European Commission, gave evidence to the Council of Europe, and addressed Members of the European Parliament to refer to unconditional basic income in reports on the future of the welfare state in Europe. We continue to bring the debate on basic income to the attention of European decision makers.

Meetings

In order to work well together across vast distances we need to meet regularly face to face. Our meetings usually include public conferences in relevant locations about Unconditional Basic Income, combined with our members working on our projects together. Due to lack of funds for interpretation, our meetings are normally in English. Whenever funds allow it though, we try to offer bilingual meetings to make it easier for local participants to join in.

We have at least one General Assembly and two or three other meetings during the year. So far we have met in Brussels, Athens, Maribor, Budapest (2015 and 2018), Maastricht, Hamburg, Madrid, London, Ljubljana, in Lisbon (coinciding with the 2017 BIEN Congress), Göteborg, and Barcelona.

Our last meeting and General Assembly was held in Berlin, 21-24 March 2019. Due to the pandemic, the GAs in 2020 and 2021 were held online. The next in-person (hybrid) meeting will take place in Prague, in May 2022.

Reporting

Transparency is a core value of our movement. UBIE members receive regular updates on the Core Group’s activities and decisions, they also have full access to all working documents (except sensitive personal data).

2020-21 Core Group Activity Report for UBIE, including the Financial Report (presented at the Virtual General Assembly on 20 March, 2021)
2019-21 Core Group Administrative and Financial Report for UBIE
2019-20 Core Group Activity Report for UBIE, including the Financial Report (presented at the Berlin General Assembly on 23 May, 2020)
2018-19 Core Group Activity Report for UBIE, including the Financial Report (presented at the Berlin General Assembly on 24 March, 2019)
2017-18 Core Group Activity Report for UBIE, including the Financial Report (presented at the Göteborg General Assembly on 25 March, 2018)