Promoting the understanding of cooperatives for a better world. Conference draws to a close

PRESS RELEASE

Venice, March 19 2012

Final statement from Carlo Borzaga, president of Euricse, sums up the two days

The conference “Promoting the understanding of cooperatives for a better world” organized by Euricse, the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) and the Alliance of Italian Cooperatives for the UN International Year of Cooperatives closed on Friday in Venice. The twoday conference featured over 50 speakers from around the world debating issues connected to the cooperative world. The participants also signed an appeal asking the European Union’s governments to pay greater attention to the importance of cooperative banks to economic recovery. Carlo Borzaga, the president of Euricse, summed up the conference with a concluding statement.

“Cooperative enterprises are actors that can contribute in a dynamic and innovative way to the social and economic development of the places in which they operate,” explained Borzaga. “The genetics of cooperation reveal an ability to adapt and transform that enables cooperatives to react positively to difficult situations, though their usefulness is clearly not limited to times of crisis.”

Borzaga emphasized that “a demand for cooperation is emerging, understood as an alternative means of managing economic activities compared to the traditional market. Contemporary society’s shift from a manufacturing economy to a service-based economy has created in people the desire to return to being involved in production processes.” Here lies the advantage of the cooperative form, which involves all of us as users or workers and returns us to the centre of the economy. “We must avoid employment being overly linked to income trends. In this sense cooperatives are effective because they are more egalitarian in dividing wealth and creating social capital. Their importance to society is valid for both individuals (maintaining employment) and other businesses (cooperative banks continue to finance small and medium enterprises even during crisis periods), and is confirmed in their clear capacity to create social cohesion and inclusion for people in difficult circumstances.” But, complained Borzaga, “the problem is making public institutions and economic policy see these advantages.”

The conclusions of the conference therefore “greatly re-evaluate the cooperative model, from both an economic and a social perspective”, and belie many of the limits considered to be typical to cooperatives. Though often considered to be systematically less efficient than other forms of businesses, it was shown that cooperatives are not confined to specific sectors, are not only small enterprises and are not less capitalized than shareholder companies. Cooperatives tend to maintain higher employment levels than other firms in times of crisis, and to increase employment levels in expansion phases.

Within the market, “the widespread presence of cooperatives appears to ensure greater competition and stability, particularly in some sectors such as insurance and banking,” said Borzaga. In sectors like education or health and social services, where the supply provided by public and non-profit organizations is insufficient, new forms of cooperation are emerging.

In front of these advantages, the conference showed “how public policies and market regulations in many contexts are still inadequate, as they often tend to negate enterprise diversity and effectively penalize cooperatives.” The studies and analyses presented during the conference emphasized the importance of a regulatory framework and support policies that are coherent with the cooperative form and favour its development. “Cooperation is traditionally a bottom-up phenomenon, to the point that when it was promoted directly by governments it proved not to be sustainable,” said Borzaga in his final declaration. Nonetheless, “an adequate regulation, both in traditional and in new sectors, is of paramount importance, and must have specific characteristics,” he continued.

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Aleksandra Bobic – EURICSE – +39 0461 283782 – +39 346 8830052
Erika Gardumi – RIZOMA – +39 051.0563855 – +39 339.5084596