27. 11. 89 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 298/59 
APPENDIX 
to the Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee 
Article 19 
b) Delete the last sentence: 
'All aspects ... representatives.' 
Reasons 
The amendment is self-explanatory. 
Voting 
For: 47, against: 69, abstentions: 15. 
Opinion on the contribution of the cooperative sector to regional development 
(89/C 298/16) 
On 31 May 1988 the Economic and Social Committee, acting under the third paragraph of 
Article 20 of its Rules of Procedure, decided to draw up an Opinion on the contribution of 
the cooperative sector to regional development. 
The Section for Regional Development and Town and Country Planning, which was respon­
sible for preparing the Committee's work on the subject, adopted its Opinion on 29 June 
1989. The rapporteur was Mr Bento Goncalves. 
At its 269th plenary session (meeting of 28 September 1989), the Economic and Social 
Committee unanimously adopted the following Opinion. 
1. Introduction 
1.1. The White Paper presented at the 1985 Milan 
Summit sets out the objectives which will underpin the 
completion of the Internal Market. The new decision­
making procedures introduced by the Single European 
Act in 1987 should help to achieve these objectives. 
1.2. The principles of free movement of goods, 
people, services and capital are fundamental to an area 
without frontiers. They affect a large number of socio­
economic operators, including those in the cooperative 
movement. 
1.3. The very general terms of Article 100 of the 
Treaty of Rome also embrace the cooperative sector. 
The second paragraph of Article 58 specifically men­
tions cooperatives societies as having a direct impact 
in the establishment and functioning of the Common 
Market. 1.4. In this context, the Committee welcomes the 
fact that the Commission has accorded formal recog­
nition to the cooperative sector, in the wake of the 
European Conference on the cooperative, mutual and 
non-profit sector held on 20 and 21 November 1986 by 
the ESC and the European cooperatives' coordination 
Committee. The Committee also appreciates the Euro­
pean Parliament's work on this subject in the Mihr, 
Avgerinos and Trivelli reports. 
2. Regional development and the completion of the 
Internal Market 
2.1. To achieve the goals of a People's Europe and 
the Single European Act, the Community institutions 
must first create conditions in which the various econ­
omic and social operators can help achieve the goals 
No C 298/60 Official Journal of the European Communities 27. 11. 89 
enshrined in the White Paper. Cooperative have an 
important part to play here. 
2.2. Enlargement of the Community to include 
Greece, Spain and Portugal has meant an increase in 
the number of less-developed regions, and of outlying 
regions and islands in particular. This has altered the 
regional balance. 
2.3. The completion of the Single Market could cre­
ate greater regional discrepancies unless measures are 
introduced to cushion the impact on the less robust 
economies where economic and social operators play a 
crucial role. 
2.4. The regional and development policies pursued 
by the Commission and the Member States, by imple­
menting the reform of the Structural Funds and increas­
ing their resources, aim to reduce the differentials in 
growth and in living standards. These policies have met 
with some success, but only over very limited areas; 
they have been unable to influence national growth 
rates as a whole, since they have done little to involve 
the main operators in the various regions. 
3. Cooperatives: their influence and their dynamic role 
in the completion of the Internal Market 
3.1. Although their degree of influence varies accord­
ing to the country and sector in question, cooperatives 
are active in all sectors of the economy, except where 
legal obstacles in the Member States dictate otherwise. 
Cooperatives have helped to create viable initiatives in 
cases where the individual chances of success would 
have been poor. They have helped people with limited 
economic resources te become competitive, and they 
play an important role in both safeguarding and cre­
ating jobs. Cooperatives lay emphasis on the training 
of their workers and members, helping to kindle the 
spirit of enterprise. 
3.2. Cooperatives in the Community have 63 million 
members and provide three million jobs. 
The scale of the cooperative movement in the Com­
munity is proof of its vigour, and of its firm place in 
the local and regional economies. Cooperatives play an important role in the move towards economic and 
social integration and cohesion. 
3.3. In the less developed regions of the Community, 
cooperatives are often one of the commercial entities 
capable of achieving concrete results; they are not only 
able to tackle economic problems but also other basic 
problems. Cooperatives play a key role in mobilizing 
small pockets of financial and business resources by 
using their investments to stimulate local and regional 
development. This boosts job creation which in turn 
encourages people to stay in the area, above all by 
opening up opportunities for young people. 
3.4. This idea can also be applied to more developed 
regions hit by industrial recession. For example, one 
solution for a bankrupt business could be takeover by 
a cooperative, with the workers playing an active part 
in restructuring. The chances of success would be good, 
provided that special financing and support instruments 
could be made available and a viable plan drawn up, 
with properly regulated worker participation in de­
cision-making and the involvement of skilled mana­
gerial staff, backed by specialist advisory and training 
services. 
3.5. Whatever its legal form, a company's prospects 
are directly proportional to the managerial skills and 
experience of its entrepreneurs, and to the level of 
worker participation. Cooperatives can help the people 
who have least access to, or knowledge of, the business 
world to learn new skills, thus increasing new business 
opportunities. 
3.6. This confirms the claim in the European Parlia­
ment's Mihr report that cooperatives not only serve to 
guarantee economic pluralism and strengthen compe­
tition between undertakings, but to some extent they 
also defend economic freedom and democracy. 
4. Characteristics and principles of cooperatives 
4.1. A cooperative can be defined as a society whose 
aim is to respond to the economic and social needs of 
its members by building and administering collective 
tied assets, while guaranteeing individual autonomy. 
27. 11. 89 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 298/61 
In contrast to some other forms of undertaking, a 
cooperative's first priority is to improve the situation 
of its members rather than to maximize profits. 
4.2. Cooperative businesses thus aim to combine bal­
anced economic management with competitiveness in 
the marketplace. Management is based on the principles 
of democratically shared responsibility and solidarity. 
This is reflected in the priority which cooperatives 
accords to the provision of services for members, and 
in their collaboration with other cooperatives. 
4.3. The democratic management of cooperatives 
means that members are free to join and leave as 
they wish, and have equal rights. Relations between 
members and the cooperative are based on reciprocity, 
and profit-sharing is calculated according to members' 
participation in the activities of the cooperative. 
4.4. In conclusion, the real power-base of a cooperat­
ive comes from its members, rather than the capital 
which each person owns. 
5. The role of cooperatives in regional development 
5.1. A study carried out by the EC Commission in 
1981 as part of its research and action programme on 
, labour market trends stressed the valuable role played 
by cooperatives in creating new jobs, especially for 
young people. 
5.2. The ESC reports on upland areas, islands and 
disadvantaged regions, and the ESC Opinion on local 
employment initiatives, saw cooperatives as a vehicle 
for the development of the poorest and most backward 
areas. 
5.3. Discussing unemployment in a 1984 Opinion, 
the Committee urged the Commission to devise ways 
to remove the obstacles which discourage people from 
setting up new cooperative-type small businesses. 
5.4. The European Parliament's Avgerinos report 
called for the promotion of small cooperative-type busi­
nesses, aimed at creating new economic and social 
structures and jobs in the less advantaged regions, thus 
boosting their development. 5.5. In the less developed and more remote regions 
of the Community, it is local businesses (whether run 
by individuals or by associations) which underpin the 
most economically sound initiatives. 
5.6. Cooperatives and other non-profit organizations 
have the strongest local base and, because of their 
principles and codes of practice, are able to mobilize 
and coordinate financial and human resources most 
efficiently. 
5.7. Sluggish economic growth often breaks the ties 
of solidarity and mutual aid which are so characteristic 
of rural areas. Cooperatives can restore these ties, not 
just between members but also with other cooperatives 
and economic operators. 
5.8. These ties are based on mutual interest; a pro­
gramme to develop the cooperative sector could help 
to re-establish these links between the people and the 
land, between members of the local community, 
between the local population and new economic and 
cultural developments, and even between regional and 
national development. 
5.9. Agricultural cooperatives (be they production, 
purchasing or marketing cooperatives) and credit and 
service cooperatives can all help improve the living 
conditions and incomes of rural communities, by setting 
up or joining central or regional bodies offering 
upstream or downstream support for their activities. 
5.10. Cooperatives and other forms of non-profit 
association cover a wide range of interests, and their 
members have a direct stake in their activities. Because 
of this, they are well placed to set up the sort of socio­
economic infrastructure which is crucial for regional 
development but which would not necessarily generate 
interest among economic operators who quite under­
standably seek to make a profit. Cooperatives could 
also provide a vehicle for the implementation and dis­
semination of Community regional development pro­
grammes under the new arrangements for coordinated 
use of the Structural Funds. 
5.11. The less-favoured and more remote regions of 
the Community often lack organizations capable of 
devising innovative schemes for planned development. 
For this reason it is necessary to establish links with 
specialist national or international organizations which 
can help in the elaboration of a suitable development 
strategy. 
No C 298/62 Official Journal of the European Communities 27. 11. 89 
5.12. Cooperatives would seem to offer an appropri­
ate vehicle for such a strategy. They provide a special­
ized network covering the whole region, and can help 
develop local potential whilst placing the undertaking 
in a wider national or transnational perspective. 
5.13. Involvement of the cooperative movement can 
help launch new economic initiatives where a lack of 
short-term profitability could otherwise make sus­
tained, balanced implementation difficult, with the 
attendant risk of failure. With cooperative partici­
pation, however, longer-term chances of succes are 
increased, thus enabling the business to become self-
sufficient. 
5.14. The fact that the cooperative movement covers 
many sectors and many interests means that planning 
can go beyond individual projects to integrated projects 
which include training at all levels throughout the 
region. 
5.15. Thanks to its firmly established place in 
society, the cooperative sector constitutes a conciliatory 
factor in the economic conflicts generated by current 
changes. Cooperatives can also help rectify regional 
imbalances caused (a) by the successive enlargements 
of the Community and (b) by the economic recession, 
in both the primary and secondary sectors. 
5.16. Some of the measures listed in the Commission 
communication on the future of rural society are of 
particular interest to the cooperative sector: 
— forestry, 
— protection of the rural environment, 
— energy and rural society, 
— measures to help small business, including cooperat­
ives, 
— research and development, 
— new information and telecommunications tech­
nology, 
— education, training and social policy, 
— action to promote exchanges of information and to 
stimulate awareness, 
— promotion of tourism and development of appropri­
ate infrastructure in rural areas. By their very nature, cooperatives are well-equipped to 
assist in such measures, partly because: 
— as local residents, their members have a direct inter­
est in the outcome of the measures, 
— the key tenets of their philosophy are joint demo­
cratic management; strengthening the economic 
position of their members, with due consideration 
for the legitimate interests of their workers, to keep 
step with social changes; and the primacy accorded 
to assistance for their members, embracing almost 
any need felt by the local population. 
5.17. Cooperatives help protect the environment by 
taking part in schemes to prevent soil erosion, promote 
reafforestation, and make better use of indigenous 
resources. 
5.18. The development of tourism, especially in rural 
areas, has an important innovatory role in regional 
development. As well as encouraging local residents to 
remain in the area, it can help protect the environment 
and encourage new local activities. Here too, the role 
of cooperatives merits consideration. 
5.19. Moreover, cooperatives have an important role 
to play in achieving the objectives of the Community 
Social Charter, as the ESC noted in its Opinion adopted 
by the plenary session of February 1989. 
5.20. The development of the cooperative, mutual 
and non-profit sector—of which the cooperative move­
ment is the cornerstone—requires the cooperation of 
all the socio-economic categories concerned, especially 
trade unions and professional organizations. 
6. Conclusions 
The cooperative movement must today strive even 
harder to reconcile (a) its legal basis, specific structure, 
lack of risk capital and access to training with (b) the 
need to adapt to Community legislation and to be more 
competitive and, above all, innovative. 
The Committee therefore calls on the Community's 
cooperative organizations and the EC Commission to: 
6.1. Make a joint study of obstacles to cross-border 
cooperation between cooperatives, and between coop­
eratives and other types of business. 
27. 11. 89 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 298/63 
6.2. Examine jointly the case for establishing an 
additional optional Community legal framework for 
cooperatives. 
6.3. Examine the financial instruments and tax facili­
ties which are already available to cooperatives or 
which should be set up or adjusted in order to bolster 
cooperative funding. 
6.4. Draw up (with the close involvement of cooper­
ative members themselves) a list of possible measures 
to encourage the establishment and development of 
cooperatives in all their activity areas. 
6.5. Help implement training schemes for cooperat­
ive members and administrative staff as part of regional 
development policy, enabling cooperatives adapt to 
their environment and further the goals of the Internal 
Market. 
6.6. Increase awareness of the cooperative movement 
and its development, by mounting information cam-
Done at Brussels, 28 September 1989. paigns, preferably with collaboration from trade unions 
and professional organizations. 
6.7. Support the establishment of a Community 
documentation and information system dealing with 
research, statistics, and the exchange of experience at 
national and Community level. 
6.8. Set up a permanent Advisory Committee to 
work together with DG XXIII, representing the Com­
munity's cooperative organizations and thus ensuring 
that Community policy-making takes account of the 
cooperative viewpoint. 
6.9. The Council should declare its commitment to 
the adoption of measures to enhance the contribution 
of the cooperative, mutual and non-profit sector to 
the establishment and consolidation of the European 
economic and social area, on the basis inter alia of the 
conclusions of the forthcoming Paris conference on the 
cooperative movement hosted bt the French Govern­
ment. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Alberto MASPRONE