From the reform of the Catalan Minimum Insertion Income to the Citizens Guaranteed Income: A paradigm shift?

Abstract

The Catalan government reformed, in mid-2011, the Catalan Minimum Insertion Income (Renda Mínima d’Inserció –RMI-). The reform tightened access requirements and rules for remaining in the program, whilst reducing positive work incentives. The Popular Legislative Initiative for a Guaranteed Income of Citizenship (RGC) launched in 2012 is the first attempt to reform the RMI by increasing the rights of citizenship. The paper analyses the Catalan government reform, placing it in the context of the current economic crisis and in the ideological conservative field of Convergence and Union. An analysis of the Initiative for a Guaranteed Income of Citizenship is also carried out, highlighting its main differences with both the RMI and the basic income model. The main conclusions are that the 2011 reform was a direct attack on the rights of the most disadvantaged sectors of Catalan society, that it was inspired by a neoliberal ideology and justified by a budgetary restraint policy. The RGC, by contrast, seeks to deepen the basic rights of citizenship, and it is an important step in the mobilisation in defending their interests