Vice President Tajani supports roadmap for cooperatives in Europe

On 10^th July the first meeting of the permanent working group on cooperatives set up by EU Commission Vice President Antonio Tajani took place.

This meeting was an opportunity to address cross-sectoral issues concerning cooperative enterprises in Europe. Representatives of European cooperative organisations taking part in the meeting put forward the priorities for the development of cooperatives in Europe: the need for specific support services, access to finance and funding, the need to include the cooperative enterprise model into school curricula and, last but not least, the need to ensure legal frameworks around Europe which do not discriminate cooperatives.

Vice-President Tajani, intervening at the meeting, said: “Cooperatives are crucial for me and I want to work with your organisations, not only today, but also on an action plan and a strategy roadmap for the next Commission”.

Dirk J. Lehnhoff, President of Cooperatives Europe, said: “Cooperatives deeply appreciated this high level meeting. We are very happy to see that Vice-President Tajani has opened a dialogue for the long term. Our organisations will be ready to give their contribution to the work of the European Union.”