The FRIBIS Annual Conference 2024 (7 – 9 October), held at the University of Freiburg, was titled “Towards the development of a full UBI? Perspectives for partial approaches in various welfare systems.” The conference attracted over 40 speakers and 79 registered participants with a hybrid format that allowed for both in-person and online attendance via Zoom. The program comprised eight sessions with up to three parallel tracks, and addressed key issues in the basic income discourse – ranging from partial basic income approaches and ecological perspectives to gender-specific aspects. Keynote speeches were delivered by Alexander Spermann (FOM University of Applied Sciences Cologne), Jörg Althammer (the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt), Bernhard Neumärker (FRIBIS) and Fabio Waltenberg (Fluminense Federal University, Brazil), each offering distinct perspectives on the feasibility and challenges of various basic income models.

Main Conference Themes

The conference was structured around three main themes. The first focused on UBI as social security and its role in the welfare state, in particular the relationship between unconditional support and targeted assistance for vulnerable groups. The second theme explored the connection between basic income and sustainability, focusing on approaches such as climate dividends and carbon taxation. The third addressed international perspectives, examining the potential of supranational UBI models, including the concept of a European basic income dividend.

The thematic diversity of the conference proved enriching as well as challenging. As Simon März, a member of the FRIBIS team XUBI, put it: “For me personally, one of the greatest challenges was processing and organizing the variety of topics and their underlying concepts. This requires more mental effort than at conferences that focus on a single subject.” Ulrich Schachtschneider, energy consultant, independent social scientist and member of the FRIBIS UBITrans team, was also impressed by the breadth of the discussions. He was positively surprised by an innovative methodological contribution from Gudrun Kaufmann of the FRIBIS team care: The analysis of basic income narratives. He found Professor Bernhard Neumärker’s discussion of the “libertarian trap/authoritarian trap” particularly stimulating, especially with regard to its exploration of various concepts of freedom and their significance for the basic income debate.

Controversy over Partial Basic Income Models

The first thematic stream, “UBI as Social Security and/or Social Protection Floor,” addressed the controversial debate surrounding partial basic income models. While Alexander Spermann in his keynote advocated for a partial UBI as a realistic option for Germany, Jörg Althammer’s keynote highlighted the fundamental tension between various UBI objectives, i.e. distributive justice, fiscal feasibility and economic efficiency cannot be optimally achieved simultaneously. This fundamental debate proved particularly challenging, as reported by Verena Löffler, member of the FRIBIS “care” team:

The argument that from an activist perspective it makes sense to introduce a basic income regardless of its specific amount, which should for example secure a subsistence minimum, met with considerable resistance. This friction within the research community (and among activists) can be both productive and divisive.

Verena Löffler

Constitutional Challenges in Focus

Beyond this fundamental debate about partial versus full basic income models, specific implementation hurdles were also addressed. A workshop on the constitutional prerequisites for introducing UBI proved particularly challenging, as co-moderator Otto Lüdemann, emeritus professor of educational science at HAW Hamburg, reports:

While I can say that this topic interests me greatly, even fascinates me,personally, I must admit that I am neither a lawyer nor a constitutional law expert. It was therefore particularly unfortunate that an invited expert, Maximilian Bauer, head of the legal editorial department at ARD [Germany’s largest public broadcaster] and SWR [Southwest German Broadcasting Corporation] in Karlsruhe, was unable to attend and had to cancel. Among the interested participants, no one was found who could fill this gap. Neither I nor my co-moderator, Bernhard Neumärker, possessed sufficient expert knowledge to effectively counter a participant who questioned certain expert opinions from authors of the German Bundestag’s Research Service from 2016 that I had cited in my introductory contribution. Specifically, it concernedthe view that the German Basic Law currently lacks the necessary legislative competence for introducing a UBI – a belief with potentially far-reaching consequences. Should the political will to introduce a UBI emerge one day, this circumstance could indeed block the implementation of such political will, if not permanently, at least for a number of years.

Otto Lüdemann

As a constructive way forward, Lüdemann suggested exploring these constitutional issues in an ARD podcast featuring experts and representatives from the Research Service of the German Bundestag.

UBI and Ecological Transformation

The second main theme of the conference explored ways in which basic income and ecological sustainability could be combined. Various instruments were discussed that could support both social security and ecological transformation – from climate dividends to specific basic income models for nature conservation. Simon März was particularly impressed by the work of the FRIBIS BINC team:

 

Their approach of systematically countering ecological degradation through basic income payments struck me as promising. What I found especially interesting about the FRIBIS team’s work is that they are researching this concept in a number of locations, such as Indonesia, Cambodia and India. This means the concept is being studied in diverse contexts. So I’m eager to see what results the team’s research projects will yield.

Simon März

International Perspectives and Global Implementations of a UBI

The international dimension of basic income research, exemplified by the previously mentioned BINC team, was at the heart of the conference’s third main theme. Here Fabio Waltenberg provided detailed insights in his keynote on the “Citizens Basic Income” in the Brazilian city of Maricá. In this city of approximately 200,000 inhabitants, almost 50% of the population receives a form of unconditional basic income, paid in a local currency, “mumbuca”. Other international implementations of basic income were also focused on: Verena Löffler was particularly fascinated by the panel discussion on the basic income study in India:

The researchers spent several months on site and the experimental design shows promise for exciting results. I find the qualitative approach of the British researchers particularly encouraging in this context.

Verena Löffler

Conclusion

Once again the FRIBIS Annual Conference 2024 proved to be a productive forum for exchange between academia and civil society engagement. Participants drew particular attention to the diversity of concepts and ideas discussed, from which all those present could benefit. Nevertheless, the collegial atmosphere of the event, aptly described by Ulrich Schachtschneider as a “family reunion,” did not detract from its intellectual depth. The integration of a variety of perspectives was widely appreciated. This included the connection between care work and gender aspects within the basic income debate as well as the discussion around ecological transformation potentials. The questions raised – from the controversy surrounding partial basic income and constitutional hurdles to the link between social and ecological sustainability – will continue to shape the future basic income discourse.

Finally, special thanks are extended to Sin Carne Schwarzwald GmbH for their excellent vegan catering and to Elza Loginova for her professional photographic documentation of the conference.