Paper outlines a co-operative vision for the collaborative economy

The document calls for 'a responsible, sustainable and community-driven collaborative economy, aimed at benefiting all European citizens'

Cooperatives Europe has presented its vision paper, A cooperative vision for the collaborative economy, during a conference at the European Parliament, hosted by Italian MEP Nicola Danti and Cooperatives Europe.

An answer to the European Commission’s communication on its agenda for the collaborative economy, the paper analyses the current climate, elaborates on prospects and barriers, and proposes a new definition for collaborative economy.

The document says the collaborative economy offers an opportunity to strengthen the European Single Market through an ambitious, harmonised strategy to untap the socio-economic potential while tackling threats and negative effects.

Nicola Danti MEP

And it takes the input of the European co-operative for a set of recommendations aimed at the European institutions, urging them to “shape a responsible, sustainable and community-driven collaborative economy, aimed at benefiting all European citizens”.

The vision paper also calls for a large-scale and ambitious public-private partnership between the co-op movement and European institutions to build a more supportive environment for community-based and democratic organisations, allowing the collaborative economy to unleash its full potential.

Jean-Louis Bancel, president of Cooperatives Europe, said: “The collaborative economy is booming, and our responsibility is to create a positive ground to enable its maturation and sustainability.

“This vision paper demonstrates the importance of a co-operative-based collaborative economy to reconnect people and their communities at a time when creating social cohesion is needed more than ever. I am looking forward to working with European stakeholder and policy-makers on an ambitious project for the future of collaborative economy.”

Mr Danti, an MEP in the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats group and the parliament’s rapporteur on collaborative economy, added: “The collaborative economy can represent a big opportunity for the European co-operative movement to reinvent, and benefit from the technological revolution.

“At the same time, co-operatives can provide added value for a balanced and sustainable development of this new phenomenon.”

 

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