Cooperatives take Centre Stage in Brussels: Two Days of Networking and Visibility

Brussels, 27 March 2025 – Last week, cooperatives were in the spotlight across two key events in Brussels on 17 and 18 March, bringing leaders, business stakeholders, policymakers and institutions together to discuss the future of the cooperative model in Europe.

17 March – Cooperative Leadership Forum

Organised by Cooperatives Europe, the Cooperative Leadership Forum gathered cooperative leaders from across Europe for a high-level, invitation-only exchange. Held under the theme “The Coop Model 2030: Challenges & Solutions”, the Forum focused on strategic challenges such as competitiveness, shared services, the green transition, artificial intelligence, governance, and member engagement. The forum was created to offer the leaders a dedicated platform to exchange, coordinate and build common strategies — a need that has become increasingly urgent in today’s complex economic and geopolitical context. By fostering trust and strategic alignment across sectors and countries, the Forum aims to strengthen the cooperative movement’s ability to respond to global challenges.

The event opened with remarks by Cooperatives Europe’s President, Prof. Petar Stefanov, represented by Todor Ivanov, Secretary-General of Euro Coop. He highlighted the fragmentation within the movement, noting that despite its scale and global recognition, urgent change is needed—particularly in strategic coordination, data, and leadership—as it looks towards 2050. “We need transformation if we want a sustainable and successful future for the European cooperative movement,” he said. “Too much is at stake: it is time for the cooperatives in Europe to move from ideas to action and to build a better world now.”

This was followed by remarks from Juan Antonio Pedreño, President of Social Economy Europe and Dr. Ariel Guarco, President of the International Cooperative Alliance.

The main session featured contributions from:

• Gianluca Salvatori (EURICSE) on trends from the World Cooperative Monitor;
• Prof. Anu Puusa (University of Eastern Finland, Pellervo) on the importance of cooperative education;
• Inigo Albizuri (Mondragon) on a shared services pilot project;
• Felix Kriedemann (REScoop.eu) on protecting energy communities from corporate capture.

The Forum also explored the implications of the European Commission’s Competitiveness Compass, with discussions aimed at helping cooperative leaders navigate the decade ahead.

At the end of this gathering, Todor Ivanov reemphasised the value of these platforms of exchange and expressed a desire to host a second Cooperative Leaders Forum at the end of the International Year of Cooperatives, to reflect together on the year’s developments.

📸 Event photos are available on Flickr: here.

18 March – European Commission High-Level Conference

On the following day, the European Commission organised a High-Level Conference on the Social Economy, co-hosted with Cooperatives Europe, CECOP, and the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC). The event was one of the key institutional highlights of the 2025 UN International Year of Cooperatives, offering visibility to cooperatives and other social economy actors at the EU level.

The conference brought together EU officials, Member States, and stakeholders to reflect on how cooperatives contribute to Europe’s competitiveness, sustainability and industrial resilience, particularly in the context of the green and digital transitions.

The conference was structured among various plenaries and parallel workshop sessions covering a wide variety of subtopics such as: resilience, skills, investment & finance, youth entrepreneurship, innovation, reindustrialisation, circular economy, the energy transition, decarbonisation, competitiveness and much more.

As part of the conference, Cooperatives Europe led a specific workshop on youth entrepreneurship, highlighting how cooperatives can lower the barriers young people face when starting a business. Speakers addressed funding challenges, legal hurdles, and the importance of education and peer-to-peer learning.

“Cooperatives 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,” concluded Agnès Mathis, Director of Cooperatives Europe bringing together the contributions of the panelists.

📸 Event photos are available on Flickr: Here.

These two days of engagement reinforced the central role cooperatives 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.