Recent developments in unemployment regulation policies indicate that universal treatment of social welfare recipients is increasingly being replaced by selective programmes which are characterised by lower subsidies and the introduction of reciprocity in social welfare. Such programmes generally introduce the condition thatpeople whobenefitfrom socialassistanceperform somekind of workinreturn. These tendencieshave important consequenceson the organisationof ourwelfare society. We believe that the application of schemes based on selectivity and reciprocityto a significant portion of thepopulation underminesthe basic character- istics of the WelfareState, i.e. classstabilisation policies and the universalbasisof treatment. This article will discuss these tendencies in the light of the workfare debate. It proposes to transform these measures into unconditionalones, sustained by universalbasic income schemes.