La diversité des modes d’organisation des associations coopératives : un défi pour l’Union européenne

The cooperative movement in Europe plays a very significant role in reality but has a weak collective identity and lacks political clout. This situation is largely the result of how the movement’s representative organisations have evolved in individual European countries. They have developed in very different ways, mixing and promoting sector and cross-sector organisations depending on the case. Briefly examining three national experiences, we identify the different models and their evolutions. These national analyses help us compare the way representative organisations have developed and determine possible future directions for representing cooperatives at the European level.