The basic wage "helps many and hurts no one," German sociologist and professor at the University of Duisberg-Essen Gerhard Bosch said in an interview with the Athens-Macedonian News Agency published on Sunday. 
"The increase of the basic wage was absolutely timely since Greece was the only country in Europe where this did not happen," he said.
At the same time, Bosch added, it was clear that a basic wage was not the main tool for dealing with people's problems but a way to ensure decent working conditions for those on minimum pay, which had to be combined with collective labour agreements.
The former director of the Work, Skills and Training Institute (Institut Arbeit und Qualifikation, IAQ), who granted the interview while in Greece for a panel discussion organised by the Nikos Poulantzas Institute on "Increasing the basic wage: an obstacle or tool for equitable and sustainable growth in Greece" was also categorical in criticising the subminimum wage for young people.
"It is an inexcusable discrimination. Consequently it is unfair and must be corrected," he said.
Bosch supported the "social dividend" distributed by the government as a necessary assistance to households, saying it was "not a cheap, pre-election handout," and noted that the institutions' predictions that pension cuts would boost the Greek economy had never demonstrably materialised in practice.
Similarly, he noted, the reduction in the tax-free income allowance did not contribute to the growth of the Greek economy since the institutions had underestimated its impact on domestic demand.
"The real problem lies in the non-taxation of those earning a lot. To seek to develop an economy by imposing more taxes on the poor is a mistaken policy. The economy grows through investments," he said.
Talking about the crisis affecting mainstream left-wing parties like PASOK throughout Europe, Bosch said this was because they had supported austerity, thus failing to represent their own voters. Expressing pessimism ahead of the European elections due to the "hawks" in the north and the increasing polarisation of Europe, he supported the idea of a European unemployment benefit programme as a way to quickly distribute funds and expressed complete disagreement with recent austerity policies, noting that severe austerity, especially, was "disastrous".
"Europe is in great danger and for this reason I believe that it must be converted from a Union of austerity to a Union of investments," Bosch added, while welcoming the proposal made by Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras for the collaboration of progressive and leftist forces in Europe as "the only chance for the survival of the Left".