Cooperatives Europe and Sectorial Members Unveil Umbrella Manifesto for the 2024 European Elections

Cooperatives in Europe provide work for almost 5.4 million individuals. They are operating in all sectors of the economy, from industry to services, healthcare to housing, agriculture to banking and energy to culture. Their role in the economy as well as their communities simply cannot be ignored. Cooperatives are lead actors in the construction of the European Union.

That is why Cooperatives Europe and the sectors join hands in this shared manifesto.

A Collective Vision for Europe’s Future in 7 Priorities

The manifesto sets out a series of key priorities aiming at enhancing the role of cooperatives in the European economy putting people at the centre.

7 Key Areas of Focus:

• Decent Work and Citizen’s Empowerment: Aiming to reshape traditional business models to prioritize democracy at work, fair working conditions, and better representation of citizens.

• Competitiveness and Resilience: Advocating for policies that ensure cooperatives are recognized and supported across all legislations, enhancing their competitiveness and resilience.

• European Pillar of Social Rights: Emphasizing the need for the European Pillar of Social Rights to remain a political priority, ensuring the implementation of the Social Economy Action Plan until 2030.

• Youth Entrepreneurship: Encouraging investment in youth entrepreneurship within the cooperative sector to lead in social innovation, digitalization, and climate action.

• Investments in the Twin Transition: Committing to support the twin transition, advocating for long-term investments in sustainable and digital innovations at national and regional levels.

• Cooperative Network in the European Parliament: Establishing a network of MEPs supportive of cooperatives to raise awareness and advocate for cooperative-friendly policies.

• Democracy and Sustainable Development in the European Neighbourhood Policy: Leveraging cooperatives to foster democracy and sustainable development in the EU Neighbourhood, recognizing their role in social and economic development.

A Call for Engagement and Collaboration

As Europe gears up for the upcoming elections, Cooperatives Europe and its sectorial members invite candidates, political parties, and policymakers to engage with the cooperative movement to realize these priorities. Likewise, we want to encourage our national and local members to reach out to their political representatives to make their voices heard. Through collaboration, we can harness the cooperative sector's potential. 

Director of Cooperatives Europe Agnes Mathis adds “The upcoming elections come at a decisive moment for Europe as it faces increasing political division and eroding trust in its institutions. We must aim to reconnect local communities and involve them more closely in the democratic processes. In this light cooperatives can provide solutions, they set the example of successful grassroots collaboration and democratic participation.

Therefore for these elections, we aim to work even closer at all levels to amplify our collective voice. We invite all stakeholders to engage with this manifesto and join us in bringing this message to political representatives ahead of the elections.'"

The public, cooperative, and social housing sector can play a pivotal role in ensuring a socially and sustainably inclusive future for people in Europe. At Housing Europe, we believe that support is needed for public, cooperative, social, and community-led housing, as the backbone of national housing systems. On January 25, 100 public, cooperative and social housing providers, policymakers at European and local level, researchers and fellows committed to fair homes called for change at the heart of the EU, the European Parliament, through the launch of the Housing Europe Manifesto.

Visit the Cooperatives Europe website to explore our umbrella manifesto, and stay tuned! We're launching an elections toolkit for cooperatives, designed to enhance engagement with the upcoming elections. More exciting updates are on the way.

 

Documentation

Find “Our Cooperative Blueprint for Europe” here.

 

About us

Cooperatives Europe is the voice of cooperative enterprises in Europe, representing 84 member organizations from 33 European countries across all sectors.

Cooperatives Europe, together with our sectorial partners COGECA, CECOP, EACB, EUROCOOP, Housing Europe, and REScoop.eu, represents a wide network of cooperative organizations across Europe, uniting our diverse voices to advocate for a cooperative vision for Europe.

We advocate for the cooperative business model as a key to sustainable development and social justice.

For further information and to explore collaboration opportunities, please contact:

Ms. Agnès Mathis, Director of Cooperatives Europe

a.mathis@coopseurope.coop