Agricultural Co-operatives in the European Union

Temeljem više izvora, a posebice studije Nizozemskog instituta za zadružno poduzetništvo (The Netherlands Institute for Co-operative Enterpreneurship) »Poljoprivredne zadruge u Europskoj Uniji« (Agricultural Co-operatiues on the European Union) i podataka Općeg udruženja poljoprivrednih zadruga u Europskoj Uniji (COGECA = General Confederation of Agricultural Co-operatives in the European Union -Confederation. Generale des Cooperatives Agricoles de l\u27Union Europeenne) te stajališta Europske komisije (Commission of the European Communities), autori su izradili pregled poljoprivrednih zadruga u 15 zemalja Europske Unije: Austriji, Belgiji, Danskoj, Njemačkoj, Grčkoj, Finskoj, Francuskoj, Irskoj, Italiji, Luksemburgu, Nizozemskoj, Portugalu, Španjolskoj, Švedskoj i Velikoj Britaniji. Prvi dio pregleda čini pregled zadružnih načela i zajedničkih standarda zemalja članica EU (slobodno osnivanje i neovisnost o državi; zajednička skrb članova o zadruzi, ravnopravnost u upravljanju i raspodjeli odgovornosti; svrha zadruge je poticanje i razvoj gospodarstva vlastitih članova; zadruga je demokratska organizacija). Najveći dio pregleda čine podaci o broju zadruga, zadrugara i zaposlenih, a prije svega o udjelu zadruga na tržištu pojedinih zemalja te ekonomski i financijski pokazatelji o najvećim zadrugama s temeljnim značajkama zadruga i zadrugarstva po zemljama. Iz pokazatelja je razvidno da se broj zadruga smanjuje, ali njihova ekonomska moć raste. To napose vrijedi za najrazvijenije zemlje Europske Unije. Na otvorenom i globaliziranom tržištu zadruge uspijevaju održati konkurentsku sposobnost primjenjujući strategiju koncentracije i specijalizacije na državnoj, pa i međudržavnoj razini. Može se zaključiti da su europske zadruge u tijeku dovršavanja procesa preobrazbe kako bi se prilagodile brzim promjenama tržišta i politike zaštite okoliša. Međutim, jačanje kompetitivnosti otvorilo je probleme sudjelovanja članova u odlučivanju o poslovanju i drugim pitanjima upravljanja zadruga: neposredno demokratsko odlučivanje članova zamjenjuje posredno (predstavnici). Naposljetku, autori su slijedom vitalnosti i ključne uloge poljoprivrednih zadruga u nacionalnim gospodarstvima i razvoju obiteljskih gospodarstava osobito istaknuli važnost uloge Europske komisije u promicanju i potpori zadrugama i zadružnom poduzetništvu kao svojevrsnoga kišobrana nad nacionalnim poticajnim instrumentarijem.Based on several sources, and especially on data published in the study Agricultural Cooperatives in the European Union published by the Netherlands Institute for Co-operative Entrepreneurship and the one provided by the General Confederation of Agricultural Co-operatives in the European Union (COGECA -Confederation Generale des Cooperatives Agricoles de l\u27Union Europeenne) as well as the viewpoint of the European Commission, the authors have completed an overview of agricultural co-operatives in 15 European countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Great Britain. The first part relates to the co-operative principles and common standards of the EU member countries (voluntary founding and independence from the state; members\u27 shared care for the co-operative, equality in management and shared responsibilities; the purpose of the co-operative is the stimulation and the development of members\u27 farms, the co-operative is a democratic organization). The major part of the overview is data on the number of co-operatives, co-operative members and employees and above all to the co-operative share in the market of different countries as well as the economical and financial indicators pertaining to the fundamental characteristics of co-operatives and co-operative system in different countries. It is obvious from the indicators that the number of co-operatives is diminishing, while their economical power is growing. This mainly true for the most developed European Union member countries. In the open and the global market the co-operatives manage to remain competitive by applying the strategy of concentration and specialization at the state and even the international level. Thus it might be concluded that the European co-operative´s are in the final stage of their transformation process with the aim of adjusting to the rapid market changes and the environment protection policy. However, the competition growth has raised the issues regarding decision making and management of co-operatives: the direct democratic decision making by the members has been replaced by the indirect decision making through representatives. Finally, the authors taking into consideration the vitality and the key role of agricultural co-operatives in national economies and especially in the development of family farms specifically point out the importance of the European Commission in the promotion and the support of co-operatives and co-operative entrepreneurship, as an umbrella institution to the national incentive instruments