On 27 February, Cooperatives Europe met with Jyrki Katainen, the European Commission’s Vice President for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness, in Brussels.
The meeting follows Cooperatives Europe’s reflection paper “A Cooperative Future for Europe”, which presents EU policy makers with a set of proposals to unlock the potential for a wider co-operative economy across Europe.
The meeting was an opportunity to promote co-operatives and their contribution to the EU’s economy. Mr Katainen acknowledged the importance of the co-operative economy and recognised co-operatives as sustainable actors in competitive markets.
Participants highlighted the lack of awareness about co-operatives as a key barrier to developing the sector in some countries. They also explored topics of interest for co-operatives such as entrepreneurship, having a level playing field for co-operatives, the role of the expert group on social entrepreneurship (GECES), the future of the Multi-Annual Financial Framework and the state of the collaborative economy.
Mr Katainen has also expressed interest in the idea of a European co-operative collaborative economy – a topic which Cooperatives Europe has addressed through a recent vision paper “A cooperative vision for the collaborative economy.”
Photo: Cooperatives Europe meets European Commission Vice-President Jyrki Katainen
