Social Europe: Unconditional Basic Income
Portugal, as many other Member-States of the EU, in collaboration with the European Commission and partners of civil society, organised several «Encounters with Citizens» in order to debate Europe and its future. These events took place throughout 2018 and 2019, and the outcome of these consultations have been presented to the European Council. A team of JusGov researchers took part in the debates which, after consultations with Portuguese Government, focused on the topic “Social Europe: The hypothesis of a Unconditional Basic Income (UBI)”. The first conference on Social Europe and the UBI was held in Vila Real on October 27 2018. JusGov researchers contributed with papers on the ethic foundations of the UBI, on the possibility of creating European taxes to fund the UBI, and on the UBI and the Constitution. The conclusions of the first debate were presented by a rapporteur to the Secretary of State of European Affairs and to the general public attending the conference, who shared opinions and contribute further to the debates. The outcome of this final debate resulted in a policy paper that has been delivered to the Portuguese Government in mid-November 2018 so as to ground the Portuguese conclusions on the debate about Europe, later presented to the European Council. There has been a final two day conference on January 24-25 2019, having Philippe Van Parijs as a keynote speaker, and counted on the presence of representatives from the European Commission, the Portuguese Government, and experts from around Europe to debate Social Europe and the UBI. An edited volume brought together the research papers produced in the context of the project.
Duration: 2018-2019.
Team: Sofia Pinto Oliveira, Benedita Mac Crorie, Clara Calheiros.
Partners: Centre for Ethics, Politics, and Society, the Catholic University of Portugal, the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, the Portuguese Government Secretary of European Affairs, and the European Commission Representation in Portugal.
Funding: Portuguese Government