Rainer Schlüter is Director of Co-operatives Europe and ICA Director for the European region since 2004.
Co-operatives Europe is the voice of 175 national co-operative organisations and 6 European business sector organisations in Europe - representing 263,000 co-operatives, 160 million members and 5.4 million workers.
He was addressing the CFNSW Co-operative Progress Conference, 27 - 28 November 2008, at the Stamford Plaza, Sydney, New South Wales, on "Fighting for co-operatives in an unfriendly institutional environment." Rainer argued that it is an historic opportunity because the global financial crisis is a failure of capitalism.
He argued that what had been critical to the development of Co-operatives Europe included:
- Building a common voice of co-operatives in Europe,
- Structuring the national political capacities in all EU and European countries: building cross sector APEX organisations.
- First public campaigns for the recognition of the co-operative difference in EU legislation.
- Strong support programs for the modernisation and transformation of the co-operative system in East Europe.
- Building a new modern image, become visible.
The results of this had been:
- New co-op legislation in East Europe and stop of the co-op decline.
- 100,000 signatures for the Campaign for the recognition of the co-operative difference in EU Competition law.
- Strong support from a majority of Commissioners and MEP's, but also from many politicians at national level.
- Recognition of the different co-operative business nature at EU Commission level in a first public communique.
- Agreement to work on a EU doctrine - EU guidelines for interpretation of the Co-op difference in the EU legislative framework (company law, competition).
The lessons of the experience had been:
- Build a strong cross sector co-op voice.
- Strengthen the co-op difference, educate on the co-op difference.
- Go public, become visible.
- Insist on: For a different business different legal treatment.
- Be proud to be a co-operative, show it, tell it!
