Co-op Advocacy

Posted in: Co-op Advocacy, Co-op Education
An Historic Opportunity
By David Griffiths
Nov 30, 2008 - 12:59:31 PM

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!