スペイン、ベーシックインカムを承認　コロナによる貧困に対応

【マドリードＡＦＰ＝時事】スペイン左派政権は5月29日、ベーシックインカム（最低所得保障）制度を閣議で承認した。新型コロナウイルスの感染拡大に由来する貧困の急増で、多くの世帯が食料支援への依存を強いられている現状に対応する。（写真は資料写真）
　連立与党の急進左派ポデモスの党首であるパブロ・イグレシアス副首相は閣議承認後、「きょうスペインで新たな社会的権利が創出された」と明言。新型コロナウイルスによる危機的状況を受け、政府がこの措置の実施の加速を強いられたと説明した。
　同制度により、一人暮らしの成人には月４６２ユーロ（約５万５０００円）の所得が保障される。家族の場合は成人か未成年かにかかわらず一人当たり１３９ユーロ（約１万７０００円）が加算され、世帯当たりの所得保障上限は月１０１５ユーロ（約１２万円）とする。支給は他の収入に合わせて配分されるため、低賃金の仕事を持つ人は今回規定された最低所得基準に合わせる形で給与を上乗せして受け取ることになる。これでどの世帯にも年間平均１万７０ユーロ（約１２０万円）の所得が保障されるという。
　政府によると、この措置で約８５万世帯、合計２３０万人が恩恵を受け、うち３割が未成年の見通し。来月に約１０万世帯への支給が始まるという。同制度の費用は年間３０億ユーロ（約３６００億円）と推計されている。
　ロックダウンの影響を受け、スペインでは地元の教会や支援団体から食料の提供を受ける家庭が続出している。特に首都マドリードで顕著に見られ、そうした状況に初めて追いやられたというケースも少なくない。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/06/01-13:14）

Spain's leftwing government approved a minimum basic income scheme on Friday to tackle a spike in poverty stemming from the virus crisis that has forced many families to rely on food aid.
Today a new social right has been created in Spain, said Pablo Iglesias, a deputy prime minister and head of the hard-left Podemos after the measure was approved by the cabinet.
It will guarantee an income of 462 euros ($515) per month for an adult living alone, while for families, there would be an additional 139 euros per person, whether adult or child, up to a monthly maximum of 1,015 euros per home.
The funds will be allocated in line with other income, so anyone with a low-paid job would have their salary topped up to meet the threshold outlined on Friday.
The ministry for inclusion and social security said it would mean that every home would have a guaranteed average annual income of 10,070 euros ($11,200).
The government said the measure was expected to benefit some 850,000 homes, affecting a total of 2.3 million people -- 30 percent of whom were minors.
Around 100,000 families would begin receiving the money next month, it said.
The basic minimum income scheme was a pledge made by Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's leftwing coalition government, which took office in January, bringing together his Socialist party with Podemos as the junior partner.
Iglesias said the crisis unleashed by the epidemic had forced the government to speed up its implementation of the measure.
The economic stoppage which kicked after Spain went on lockdown in mid-March to slow the spread of the virus, has left hundreds of thousands of people jobless, triggering a rapid rise in poverty that has outstripped that of 2008 when the property bubble burst.
Many families, particularly in Madrid, have for the first time found themselves forced to stand in line for food handouts at local churches and neighbourhood organisations.
The government said the measure, which is expected to cost an annual 3.0 billion euros, is aimed at ending extreme poverty, which affects some 600,000 homes and 1.6 million people.
Even before the epidemic took hold, UN poverty expert Philip Alston, who visited in February, said Spain was utterly failing its poorest citizens who were living in some of the worst conditions in Europe, describing levels of inequality as shockingly high.