R5 AM5: Universal Basic Services: Towards a Convivial Degrowth Europe

Introduction

Capitalism is failing at ensuring basic human needs such as affordable housing,
comfortable and sustainable transportation, universal healthcare, and food. As
Capitalism is currently the predominant economic system, the degrowth and post-
growth researcher Jason Hickel, capitalism relies on maintaining an artificial
scarcity of essential services (such as housing, healthcare, transport, etc)
through processes of enclosure and commodification. This manipulation of the
market enables the ruling class to raise prices and maximise their profits (e.g.
rental market, the US healthcare system, or the British rail system), increasing
their capital.

As indicated by the Eurostat, housing prices rose by 48% in the EU between 2010
and 2023, 10.6% of the EU population are unable to keep their homes adequately
warm in 2023, and Europe is facing an escalating housing crisis (European
Commission, 2024). According to the Global Report on Food Crises 2024 (FAO,
2024), In 2023, 281.6 million people (21.5 percent of the analysed population)
faced high levels of acute food insecurity in 59 food-crisis
countries/territories. Food insecurity in Europe affects roughly 7%–8% of the
population, with over 17% of those at risk of poverty unable to afford adequate
meals. Driven by inflation, high food prices, and geopolitical tensions, the
crisis disproportionately impacts young people, low-income households, and
under-privileged regions. The numbers do not lie: capitalism is a war machine
against equality. The intersectionality of the struggles and vulnerabilities
make it more difficult to respond and recover from shocks.

The only solution to prevent and stop the further development of these
inequalities is to move towards a Convivial Degrowth Economy where human
wellbeing is sustained while planetary boundaries are respected. Reaching a
Convivial Degrowth Economy is a key element of the Green Europe we are fighting
for, and the only way to ensure that no one is left behind and universal human
needs are satisfied. Universal Basic Services (UBS) will facilitate the
development of this system.

About Universal Basic Services

Theorised by Coote and Percy (2020), UBS aims to offer access to essential needs
to everyone regardless of financial status, as well as to help against the
climate crisis (Coote, 2022). UBS guarantee a public subsidised (affordable and
in some cases free) access to food, transportation, healthcare, education, and
housing regardless of financial status, gender etc.

These UBS will cover universal basic needs. All of these needs are satisfiable
within a threshold, as humans do not require excess in any of them to live
comfortably (Coote, 2022). At its core, UBS seeks to redefine consumption from
individual and private to public and shared (Coote, 2021).

A core aspect of UBS is the improvement of people’s access to services necessary
for decent lives, with provisioning systems that require less aggregate energy
and material use and which allow us to accelerate decarbonisation. These
outcomes can be further enhanced by ensuring strong democratic governance of
public systems (Hickel, 2023).

Practical Cases

In Europe there has already been a number of cases where UBS were limitedly
implemented.

Romania’s Green Friday in Cluj - Free Public
Transport Each Friday

With the slogan of “STOP! Today the car is standing still!” Green Friday is an
initiative started in June 2021 and active in the city of Cluj and its
surrounding municipalities (CTP Cluj-Napoca, 2026). This is a prime example of
UBS, with its goals to reduce chemical and noise pollution, traffic, car
accidents and congestion, and costs of traveling, as well as to stimulate
citizens to use the public transport more.

UBS Housing in Europe

In Vienna, housing costs are kept low because the city owns a large share of the
land. Hamburg and Copenhagen use public organisations to manage land, while the
whole country of Denmark taxes land and redistributes it to local governments
for housing investments (Coote, 2022). In Montpellier, the city partners with
special vehicles to develop land. Some regions of Belgium, Austria, Germany,
Denmark, and the Netherlands have a threshold after which rents become capped or
subsidized.

Free Access to Food in Schools - The Case of
Finland and the United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom and Finland, kids receive free lunch in school. While
Finland has been offering universal free meals in school since 1943, the UK
currently only offers them to kids in reception and in their first and second
years of school (Coote, 2022).

Standing for UBS is essential in a global context where public services are put
under a lot of pressure, and sometimes being threatened by budget cuts and
neoliberal policies encouraging their privatisation. In that regard, employing
universal basic services would:

• Reduce the inequality gap. These services improve the lives of people in
  the lower-income classes.

• Act as a form of prevention against illness or even death (free
  healthcare, education), thus reducing poverty and mortality by making
  these needs accessible to everyone.

• Improve sustainability by shifting the focus from producing for capital to
  producing for human needs.

Solidarity-based Practices

The green-left movement has been lacking to visualize its utopies. Concepts like UBS often seem unrealistic, but we all know they are not. The role of organizations can be to make them experienceable. However this is usually only possible on a smaller scale. Free education can be translated to free tutoring, low rents to rental advice or low food prices to soup kitchens. Our visions for an equal future can be experienced through solidarity. Furthermore, those practices can also be seen as an answer to the challenges posed by a rising right movement. A Grüne Jugend (Germany) local group implemented a new and cheap train connection from the city to the ocean and organized young people in a usually far right dominated area (“Sommer, Sonne, Strandbahn” [Summer, Sun, Beachtrain]), highlighting the importance and functionality of solidarity-based practices.

Connect fights - Climate and working issues in Germany and Austria

Unequalities, extraction of natural resources and exploitation of the working class have the same root. Therefore, it is crucial to connect our fights. This is not only a more effective way but also reaches more people. As #wirfahrenzusammen (#wedrivetogether) in Germany or #wirfahrengemeinsam (#wedrivetogether) in Austria have proven this is possible. The climate movement, in the form of FridaysForFuture and the unions have created a campaign together that highlights that labor dispute and climate action belong together through more investments in public transport. On the one hand, this movement created awareness and support from the civil society for strikes by 1:1 talks and collecting signatures for petitions. On the other hand, bus drivers were organized in unions and further supported the climate movement. This achieved e.g. in Hamburg historically high and fast agreements and high investments in public transport.

We, as Federation of Young European Greens, call to:

• The EU to ensure universal access to nutritious, regenerative, and plant-
  based food by implementing a public grocery system. Public grocery systems
  are defined as retail food establishments that are directly owned,
  partially or fully funded, or significantly supported by public
  institutions. These institutions can range from local municipal
  governments and regional authorities to community-based co-operatives that
  operate under a public mandate. A core principle of their operation is
  offering goods at affordable and, in some cases, subsidized prices.
  European governments shall fund regenerative farms and gardens linked to
  these public grocery stores (Clark, 2021).

• The European governments and municipalities to invest more in sustainable
  public transit systems and make them affordable.

• The European Commission to extend the scope and raise the ambition of the
  European Affordable Housing Plan by prioritising public over private
  investment and Public Private Partnerships in affordable housing supply.

• The EU Member States to design financial and legal solutions to support
  social and affordable housing.

• The European Commission and European national governments to design
  financial and legal solutions for free healthcare.

• The EU to move away from outdated fiscal rules and implement wealth taxes.
  The potential revenue from wealth taxes could be allocated according to
  each country’s specific needs and political priorities, offering
  opportunities to invest in energy, education, healthcare, transportation,
  or unemployment programmes.

References

Clark, James. 2021. « It’s Time to Nationalize Supermarkets ». Jacobin, July 15.
https://jacobin.com/2021/07/nationalize-supermarkets-australia-agriculture-food-
system-public-sector

CPT Cluj-Napoca. 2026. https://ctpcj.ro/index.php/ro/despre-noi/stiri/vinerea-
verde/1442

Coote, Anna. 2021. « Universal Basic Services and Sustainable Consumption ».
Sustainability: Science, Practice and Policy 17 (1): 32‑46.
https://doi.org/10.1080/15487733.2020.1843854.

Coote, Anna. 2022. « Towards a Sustainable Welfare State: The Role of Universal
Basic Services ». Social Policy and Society 21 (3): 473‑83.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S1474746421000385.

Coote, Anna, et Sebastian Mang. 2023. « Universal Basic Services: a Greener,
More Affordable Life for All ». Green European Journal 26 (décembre).

Coote, Anna, et Andrew Percy. 2020. The Case for Universal Basic Services. The
Case for Series. Polity.

European Commission, ed. 2024. Housing in Europe: 2024 Interactive Edition.
Publications Office. https://doi.org/10.2785/5544429.

FAO, 2024. FSIN and Global Network Against Food Crises. 2024. GRFC 2024. Rome.
https://www.fsinplatform.org/grfc2024.

Hickel, Jason. 2022. Less Is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World. Penguin
Books.