 | |
| Company type | Cooperative federation |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2005 |
| Headquarters | , |
Area served | Europe |
Key people | Susanne Westhausen, President and Agnes Mathis, Director |
| Members | 83 member organisations in 33 European countries |
| Website | coopseurope |
Cooperatives Europe is the European regional office of the International Co-operative Alliance and acts for cooperative enterprises in Europe. Representing 83 member organisations from 33 European countries,[1] across all business sectors (data from 2014). Cooperatives Europe promotes the cooperative business model in Europe and advocates for a level playing field between cooperatives and other forms of enterprise. Its members represent 123 million individual member cooperators owning 160.000 cooperative enterprises and providing jobs to 5.4 million European citizens.[2]
As part of the International Cooperative Alliance, Cooperatives Europe maintains the internationally recognised definition of a cooperative in the Statement on the Co-operative Identity which also defines seven cooperative principles. Over time, the international cooperative movement has made small readjustments to this first set of principles of the Rochdale cooperative. The most recent adjustment was made in 1995 at the Centennial Congress of the International Cooperative Alliance, when the seven cooperative principles were approved: voluntary and open membership, democratic member control, member economic participation, autonomy and independence, education, training and information, cooperation among cooperatives, and concern for the community. The new principles, while building on and refining the previously accepted ones, firmly positioned cooperatives as jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprises based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality and solidarity.[3]
On the first Saturday of July each year, Cooperatives Europe celebrates International Co-operative Day. In December 2009, the United Nations declared 2012 as the International Year of Cooperatives.[4]
- ^ "Member organisations - Cooperatives Europe". Cooperatives Europe. 8 February 2012. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
- ^ "Cooperatives - EU Commission - Enterprise and Industry". EU Commission - Enterprise and Industry. EU Commission - DG Enterprise. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
- ^ Birchall, J. (1997). The international co-operative movement. Manchester: Manchester University Press. p. 257. ISBN 9780719048241. Retrieved 16 January 2015.
- ^ "International Year of Cooperatives". International Year of Cooperatives. United Nations. Retrieved 16 January 2015.