Commissioner Andris Piebalgs
Co-operative Enterprises: Key Actors in the EU ‘Agenda for Change’
Mirko Nodari |
Cooperatives Europe |
(2) Co-operatives, Global News, Society, Global Affairs, Consumer, Development, ICA, Democracy, Mutuals, Politics, Regional Organisations, Housing, Social Enterprise
On 13th October, EU Commissioner for Development, Andris Piebalgs, unveiled the 'Agenda for Change' of EU Development policy. This communication is the basis of the future EU Development strategy, with which the EU will re-prioritize its delivery of aid to developing countries to ensure maximum impact on poverty reduction.
The ‘Agenda for Change’ specifically mentions co-operative enterprises: “Economic growth needs a favourable business environment. The EU should support the development of competitive local private sectors [...] by building local institutional and business capacity, promoting SMEs and cooperatives [...]”.
“Being directly mentioned as an important local business actor in the strategy document of the biggest donor of official development aid worldwide is a great achievement for co-operatives” commented Klaus Niederländer, Cooperatives Europe director. “We will now be aiming at the same recognition within the other EU policies: co-operatives are protagonists of economic and social development everywhere."
The European Union as a whole (Member States plus EuropeAid, Commission-managed funds) is the biggest donor of official development aid worldwide. In 2010, it provided €53.8 billion (more than 50% of global aid). The European Commission is responsible for the management of €11 billion of aid per year, putting it in second place among donors globally.
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Comments
You are very right to say that the cooperatives need to emerge as social movement in the future.However,mention of 'cooperatives' in the policy documents is very important.Then only the policy-makers can take this sector seriously.In India the cooperatives are ignored in the planning process of the country.The Plan document does not contain a specific chapter on 'Cooperatives',earlier there used to be a specific chapter.Now it is a downward slide for the cooperatives in the planning process despite their achievements in various socio-economic areas of activities.
Sanjay Verma
NCUI and ICA-AP
Whether cooperatives are mentioned in EU documents is largely irrelevant. What matters is whether cooperatives are instruments that individuals and communities are using to shape society and the economy. The cooperative movement has suffered over many decades from problems of bureaucracy and inertia, thinking of itself more as a pan-national NGO than a social movement. The future of cooperatives lies in rediscovering ourselves as a social movement, not an industry, not an international bureaucracy, but a social movement through which individuals and communities solve problems and achieve outcomes that are not achieveable through state or market mechanisms.
Vern Hughes
Centre for Civil Society