The Social Charter has registered the Popular Legislative Initiative against poverty and social exclusion in the Basque Parliament

In order for a PLI to be dealt with in the Basque Parliament, a guarantee of 10,000 signatures is required. In Navarre, this figure is 1% of the autonomous electoral roll (around 5,000 signatures). The Social Rights Charter of the Basque Country expects to substantially exceed these figures and to bring specific steps to improve the income guarantee system and the right of access to decent housing to the centre of the political debate.

The specific steps included in this initiative intend improving the policies regarding the minimum guaranteed income and the right to access to decent housing. Regarding the guaranteed income (Income Guarantee) the idea is to take up the reference of the Interprofessional Minimum Wage again, in such a way that people living alone are guaranteed an income equivalent to 100% of the IMW. Additionally, a substantial improvement of the scale is being set forth, in order that cohabitation units of 2 people obtain an income of 150% of the IMW guaranteed and that this income is 200% of the IMW for 3 or more people. In this way, the idea is to reverse the cut backs that have been applied in recent years.

On the subject of housing, the PLI seeks to effectively acknowledge citizens’ rights regarding the fact that institutions should be obliged to offer them social housing, without under any circumstances, this right being replaced by an economic benefit.

The impossibility of access to decent housing and the lack of a minimum income are two reasons that are leading to the increasingly important reality of poverty in groups that are becoming more extensive all the time. The institutions of the Basque Country have the competence to adopt policies that protect citizens on these subjects. The Social Rights Charter of the Basque Country demands those that govern us to place the institutions at the service of the improvement in the quality of life of the majority. Now we only need the political willingness to do it.