Two events took place in Brussels last month highlighting the role of co-operatives in Europe, during the 2025 International Year of Cooperatives.
Cooperatives Europe organised the Cooperative Leaders Forum on 17 March, with an agenda including competitiveness, shared services, the green transition, AI, governance, and member engagement.
The forum aimed to offer co-op leaders a dedicated platform to exchange, coordinate and build common strategies – which, said Cooperatives Europe, is “increasingly urgent” in today’s complex economic and geopolitical context.
Speakers included apex presidents Juan Antonio Pedreño (Social Economy Europe), Ariel Guarco, (International Cooperative Alliance) and Petar Stefanov (Cooperatives Europe). Stefanov warned that the movement is becoming fragmented and needs to change to guarantee a sustainable and successful future for Europe’s co-ops.
The forum also explored the implications of the European Commission’s Competitiveness Compass, an initiative highlighting innovation, decarbonisation and security as key focuses for the coming years.
The following day, the Commission held a conference in Brussels on the role of co-ops in boosting economic resilience and social cohesion in the EU.
Organised by the directorate-general for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SME, the event featured plenaries and workshops designed to foster dialogue among co-op representatives, academics, and policymakers.
Plenaries focused on the co-op model as a solution to economic uncertainty, environmental and societal shifts, the role of public authorities in supporting co-op development and a dialogue with stakeholders on the future of co-op in EU industrial policy.
A session on industrial policy heard from speakers including Simel Esim, head of the International Labour Organization’s Cooperative, Social and Solidarity Economy Unit and Chair of UN Inter-Agency Task Force on Social and Solidarity Economy.
European co-ops show how market competitiveness can be harmonised with social and environmental objectives, said Esim, highlighting good practices that can be scaled up – such as platform co-ops, co-op to co-op trade, financing of co-ops by financial co-operatives, and the elimination of child labour in agriculture in rural co-ops.
But, she warned, this requires a level playing field for co-ops, giving them equal access to credit, investment, public procurement, and a supportive regulatory environment.
Related: Report on UK co-ops urges removal of barriers blocking sector growth
In parallel workshops, participants explored skills development, investment and finance, building resilient industrial clusters, market opportunities, digital innovation, net-zero and circular economy, the role of housing and energy co-ops, trade and supply chains, and youth co-op entrepreneurship.
The session on youth co-op entrepreneurship was facilitated by Agnès Mathis, director of Cooperatives Europe, who said: “Co-operatives offer young people a real path to entrepreneurship, with built-in support networks and shared ownership. But to make that path visible and viable, we need stronger policy backing and better access to finance.”
Cooperatives Europe said the two days “reinforced the central role co-operatives play in building a resilient, inclusive and forward-looking European economy – both from the ground up and at the policy table.
“However, the International Year of Cooperatives has only barely started and we look forward to inviting you again to our next event.”
