To extend the minimum income guarantee to reduce the alarming gap between the number of current beneficiaries and the number of persons living in severe material deprivation and at risk of poverty

Until an unconditional universal basic income is established in Europe, there is a need to expand the cover delivered by the minimum income guarantee for citizens (the RGC, approved in 2017 in Catalonia following a popular legislative initiative) increasing the number of recipients at least fourfold to reduce the alarming gap between the number of current beneficiaries of the RGC and the number of persons living in severe material deprivation and at risk of poverty. The RGC must identify priority groups (children, single-parent families, young people, women victims of male violence, people who are out of work and/or who are experiencing severe material deprivation) with the aim of achieving equal opportunities and a regional rebalancing. The RGC must enable individuals to overcome the various moments in life (a range of employment circumstances, for example) and to envisage the potential route out of each situation, preventing an everlasting wheel of instability or exclusion. In other words, it should be done in a way that does not penalise the recipients (by cancelling the benefit) if they find a short-term casual job, as this will plunge them back into poverty once the job ends. Prior to the pandemic, there were around 140,000 persons in receipt of the RGC, while the number living in severe material deprivation stood at 440,000 and the number of people at risk of poverty (according to the AROPE indicator of 23.6%) was 1,770,000. Amid the pandemic – with the economic and social crisis it has triggered – between January and September 2020 only an additional 12,000 persons have benefitted from the RGC.