Portugal

As a lecturer and researcher at the Centro de Investigação de Direito Económico, Financeiro e Fiscal (Research Centre on Economic, Financial and Fiscal Law) of the Faculty of Law in Lisbon, Nazaré Cabral has worked for two decades in areas such as Social Security, Public Finance and Economic and Monetary Union. She has written a large number of works in these areas since 200 and a member of the Scientific Committee of the 17th BIEN Congress. She regards the UBI as an “appealing measure”, but is hesitant about its implementation, saying that it is necessary to weigh up the “implications …

The party Pessoas Animais e Natureza (People, Animals and Nature – PAN) was the only one to include the Unconditional Basic Income (UBI) in its manifesto and it raised the issue for discussion in the Assembleia da República. Francisco Guerreiro, the national political commissioner of PAN, believes that the UBI has the basis to respond to a new economic model. Still without having defined a project for its implementation, this party has promoted parliamentary debate about the issue. ECO123: Is the UBI a key policy for PAN at present? F.G.: It is a debate that needs to be had in …

The scene with long queues and lots of elderly people in the post office is repeated every month. More than a dozen people stand there in a queue and wait for their pensions. Most of them receive a sum that is way below €400. The money is paid to them in cash, and counted out in public before being handed over. The post office clerk counts the money out to the pensioner: ten, 20, 30 euros, one hundred, two hundred, three hundred euros, and then the money is stuck in the envelope which had previously contained the payment slip from …

Beetroot and ginger cream soup [gluten free, no milk, suitable for vegans] Starter for 6 People Ingredients: 500 g fresh beetroot 200 g potatoes 1 red onion diced finely 2 cloves garlic 1 green chili pepper 50 g fresh ginger, diced finely 500 ml organic coconut milk, organic 
soya cream or almond milk. 500 ml water Grated peel and juice of two organic 
lemons 4 tbsp. sunflower oil ½ – 1 tsp. fine salt, 1 large pinch ground cloves and caraway, 1 bay leaf, freshly
ground black pepper. Preparation: Peel and chop the beetroot and potatoes. Careful: beetroot stains badly! In …

The economy is in a parlous state. Millions of Europeans are suddenly losing their jobs. Who is giving them any support? The most idiotic view is the one that claims that everything can remain just as it is. Three years ago, in late September, 2017, scientists and politicians gathered together at a world conference at the Portuguese Parliament to debate the possible implementation of an Unconditional Basic Income. Now, faced with the Covid-19 pandemic and the bankruptcy of many companies as the world economy collapses around them, coupled with the threat of an environmental catastrophe and a shortage of our …