Cooperatives Europe Activities Headlines 003 2009

ACTIVITIES HEADLINES – 2009/03 1ST OCTOBER 2009 Please feel free to distribute it. If you did not receive this newsletter direct from COOPERATIVES EUROPE and would like to do so, please send an email to: office @coopseurope.coop. THE STATUTE FOR EUROPEAN COOPERATIVE SOCIETY (SCE) The project to study the implementation of the Regulation 1435/2003 on the statute for European Cooperative Societies (SCE) is about to commence for a 12 month period. COOPERATIVES EUROPE along with its partners: Euricse and Ezai Foundation (Mondragon) and national co-operative law experts will be undertaking the following tasks: Mapping of the relevant legislation implementing SCE in EU and EEA countries; Mapping of the national legislation on cooperatives; Inventory of SCEs and related information; Analysis of the degree of success of the Regulation; Other issues concerning visibility of the cooperatives sector. The project is funded by the European Commission, Directorate General Enterprise and Industry. For further information contact: [email protected] ▫●●●▫

COOP ERASMUS

Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs is a European exchange programme aimed at helping new entrepreneurs to acquire relevant skills for managing a small or medium-sized enterprise by spending time (1 to 6 months) in an enterprise managed by an experienced entrepreneur in another European country. COOPERATIVES EUROPE and the other 7 European partners of the consortium CoopErasmus (COOPERATIVES UK, CEPESANDALUCIA, UNCCUE, ELABORA-CONFCOOPERATIVE, INFORCOOP-LEGACOOP, CCU-BULGARIA, COOMPANION) have been selected to be Intermediary organisations. Intermediary organisations help new and host entrepreneurs in getting in contact and assist them during the relationship. Francisco Javier Robredo Arana, New Entrepreneurs of UNCCUE travelled from Spain to the International School of Languages in Malta where he developed his marketing and managerial skills. “It has been a unique and thoroughly rewarding experience. It has enabled me to expand my managerial skills in areas of administration, finance and international relations”, he said. The school of languages also benefited from the exchange stating “Francisco has been an asset and a pleasure in our office, added cultural diversity to our staff, and provided valuable insight on the Spanish Market”. To date, two relationships are ongoing and three are to be approved by the Commission very soon. About 45 entrepreneurs registered to the programme and chose one of the partners of our consortium as an Intermediary Organisation. This is a great opportunity for the co-operative movement. Firstly, this project responds to a need which our businesses have been expressing several times in the past i.e. new entrepreneurs/co-operators, especially in the start-up phase, need to exchange experience with experienced entrepreneurs. Secondly, this is another official recognition of co-operatives as key actors in the European economy and lastly, it is a great chance to foster the creation of new co-operative businesses and to enable our co-operatives to gain an international dimension. Further information can be found on the programme portal: www.erasmus-entrepreneurs.eu. If you have contacts with any entrepreneurs who would like to participate in the programme either as a Host or as a New Entrepreneur, or if your organization would like to become an Intermediary Organization, please contact [email protected].

▫●●●▫ 1 COOPERATIVES EUROPE ASBL EUROPEAN HOUSE OF CO-OPERATIVES ◊ AVENUE MILCAMPS 105 ◊1030 BRUSSELS Tel. (32/2) 743 10 33 ◊ Fax (32/2) 743 10 39 ◊ [email protected]

ACTIVITIES HEADLINES – 2009/03 1ST OCTOBER 2009

ACT! COOPERATIVES ADDRESSING THE CLIMATE THREAT The COOPERATIVES EUROPE website http://actonclimate.coop went live on 21 September along with the Co-operative petition for the UN Copenhagen Climate conference in December 09. Please encourage members/friends and family to sign the petition so that we can have a strong co-operative voice in demanding from government leaders and politicians a Fair, Ambitious and Binding agreement in Copenhagen. Many of our member organisations and co-operative enterprises are already implementing measures to reduce their carbon emissions, let us publicise what we are doing. COOPERATIVES EUROPE will be making a presentation at the ICA General Assembly in Geneva in November so we need good examples of your actions. Use the website ‘case studies’ page to record what you are doing or send any details to: [email protected] Please publicise the ACT! website by downloading a logo and use in your own website and in your newsletters. See http://actonclimate.coop/resources.aspx. The website will shortly be in French, Italian, Spanish, German, Russian. If you think it would be useful in your home language please help us with some translation - even if it is only the petition page. Thank you. ▫●●●▫

YOUR CO-OP NEWS HERE Send us your co-op and sector news that has a pan-European interest for inclusion in this newsletter and on the COOPERATIVES EUROPE website. Contact: [email protected]

▫●●●▫

DIARY DATES 6/10 6/10 26/10 26/10 27-28/10 16-20/11

EUCC meeting COOPERATIVES EUROPE Executive meeting SPP Social Dialogue briefing seminar European Cooperatives House Inauguration COOPERATIVES EUROPE Board meeting ICA General Assembly – Europe delegates meeting 18 November 2009 ▫●●●▫

Follow the news! To get notice of when new articles are posted on the Cooperatives Europe website use the ‘news feed’ address: http://www.coopseurope.coop/spip.php?page\x3dbackend in your newsreader. Subscribe for an email with the updates of the website by entering your email address on the Cooperatives Europe website (right hand column) - http://www.coopseurope.coop/ Follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/coopseurope/ 2 COOPERATIVES EUROPE ASBL EUROPEAN HOUSE OF CO-OPERATIVES ◊ AVENUE MILCAMPS 105 ◊1030 BRUSSELS Tel. (32/2) 743 10 33 ◊ Fax (32/2) 743 10 39 ◊ [email protected]

ACTIVITIES HEADLINES – 2009/03 1ST OCTOBER 2009 Follow the ACT! Project on Twitter at http://twitter.com/climate_threat/ and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Brussels-Belgium/ACT-coops/150352778501

3 COOPERATIVES EUROPE ASBL EUROPEAN HOUSE OF CO-OPERATIVES ◊ AVENUE MILCAMPS 105 ◊1030 BRUSSELS Tel. (32/2) 743 10 33 ◊ Fax (32/2) 743 10 39 ◊ [email protected]