CECOP welcomes President von der Leyen’s focus on sustainable prosperity and competitiveness, particularly her call for a Clean Industrial Deal, better investment, and an improved Skills and Labour Market.  

Worker and social cooperatives have been championing innovative, resilient, sustainable, and worker-focused production methods. Like other economic actors, they are seeking support to overcome the hurdles they face in their digital and green transitions, as well as in the race for competitiveness. One of the main factors that has been hindering cooperatives in reaching their full potential has been a lack of level playing field when competing with for-profit actors – especially regarding access to funding. It is key that industrial and service cooperatives are fully integrated into the Commission’s plans for a more resilient and circular EU economy and its Clean Industrial Deal as their not-for-profit nature, values and mission position them ideally to reach the goals set by the political guidelines. 

 © European Union 2024 - Source : EP

We are glad to see that investment will be one of the main axes of action for the next EU Commission. Investments are needed across the EU economy, and it is crucial that no business model is overlooked by this new “Investment Commission”. The Commission must guarantee that the proposed instruments, such as the private saving leveraged via the European Savings and Investment Union, as well as the investments made through the European Competitiveness Fund and the Clean Industrial Deal, will be accessible to all companies – regardless of their size or business model. Additionally, the next Commission must ensure that cooperatives will have the same level of access to the untapped potential of data as other SMEs. A lack of oversight on the actors benefiting from these initiatives would be counterproductive and lead to further discrimination against cooperatives. 

As mentioned in the political guidelines, better use of public procurement can efficiently and rapidly bring more resources to the right actors from existing funding. For any reform of public procurement rules to be successful, it must encourage more integrated partnership models, co-designing, long-term planning, and a reinforcement of the social and environmental criteria in selecting the successful bidder. Another means to increase access to funding would be to extend the reform of State Aid rules, currently limited to housing in the guidelines, to recognize the social role of cooperatives. Additionally, there must be a clear call from the next Commission to encourage Member States to increase their investment in social infrastructure and the care sector, as they are fundamental to quality living conditions and social cohesion in Europe. 

Furthermore, CECOP welcomes President von der Leyen’s intention to pursue the EU’s efforts in skilling and reskilling its workforce. A Union of Skills and embedding lifelong learning into education and careers would certainly facilitate the access to qualified workers for companies. However, it is important that efforts should be made to ensure that these solutions are available for all companies. 

However, we are disappointed that no commitments were made towards the Social Economy Action Plan. Supporting the Social Economy does not only support actors that represent 8% of the EU’s GDP but also encourages innovative businesses, governance models, and local communities that are vital in addressing the many challenges the EU is facing. Social Economy actors deserve adequate representation in the European Commission’s agenda. We hope this will be corrected with the explicit allocation of the Social Economy to the competence portfolio of a Commissioner in the next College. Another key policy missing from the political declaration is the EU Care Strategy. The next EU Commission must prioritize the implementation of the EU Care Strategy to reinforce care and social services. Social cooperatives play an essential role in providing these services, benefiting both workers and beneficiaries. A strong implementation of the EU Care Strategy would allow them to thrive. 

Finally, while we welcome the reinforcement of the SME test, we believe that the next Commission should consider extending the concept to address the specifics of cooperatives by including a Cooperative Test. 

CECOP looks forward to working with President von der Leyen and her next European Commission to foster a better EU for industrial and service cooperatives.