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Brussels, 16 April 2003
Contribution to the Convention on the Future of Europe
EURO COOP is the European Community of Consumer Co-operatives, whose members are the national organisations of consumer co-operatives in 11 of the 15 European Union Member States and in three of the candidate Member States. Created in 1957, EURO COOP today represents over 3,200 local or regional co-operatives, membership of which amounts to over 19 million consumers in the European Union and 2 million in the associated countries of Central and Eastern Europe.
Introduction
EURO COOP, one of the longest-established representative associations at European-level takes this opportunity to present its views to the Convention on the Future of Europe and contribute its experience and expertise to the important work at hand. The specific structures of consumer co-operatives - set-up by consumers for consumers in the mid-19th Century - provides us with a unique position to address issues of democracy and pluralism that we consider important for the future well-being of Europe, its citizens and consumers.
From the earliest stages of the co-operative movement, the members' right to control co-operatives also explains the role of consumer information and education played by co-operatives. Members expect their co-operatives to defend their interests and to answer their information needs. A significant proportion of consumer co-operatives' resources is therefore devoted to the information and education of consumers.
After one year of work, the Convention is releasing its first tangible results in the form of Draft Articles. It is at this stage that EURO COOP would like to highlight some issues that Europe's consumer co-operatives believe should be reflected in the definitive proposal presented to the next Inter-Governmental Conference.
EURO COOP fully appreciates the importance of this constitutional process and hopes it will bring forward concrete proposals that bring the European Union closer to its citizens, whose well-being and identification with the future construction of Europe should be among the primary aims of the work of the Convention.
Comments on Draft Constitutional Treaty & Charter of Fundamental Rights
1. Principles and Values
EURO COOP welcomes the values of respect for human dignity, liberty, democracy, human rights, peace, tolerance, justice and solidarity as established in Article 2 of the draft Treaty as they accurately reflect the principles and values that inspire the consumer co-operative movement since its origins.
It is for these very reasons that EURO COOP believes that there must be a greater balance between the economic and social objectives of the Union via the full incorporation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights into the Treaty and the extension of some of its articles.
However, in order to assure their effective implementation, the objectives stated in Article 3 must be reshaped, including in them the promotion of inter alia: sustainable development, co-operatives as a form of undertaking, and the promotion and protection of consumers' rights.
Article 12 (Freedom of Assembly and Association) and Articles 21 and 22 (Equality) of the Charter of Fundamental Rights must contain explicit reference to co-operatives in order to assure they are on an equal footing with other forms of undertaking. Co-operatives represent a fundamental element of the European socio-economic model and must be explicitly recognised as such.
2. Policies
EURO COOP believes Article 38 of the Charter should develop the notion of consumer to include the diversity of consumer categories and consumer organisations - and include references both to consumers as individuals and collective groupings of consumers via consumer co-operatives. Recognising the diversity of consumers and in turn their representation will serve to enhance the representativity; transparency and democratic nature of consumer representation at Community level and ensure the accountability of the European Union and it processes to its citizens. In addition, the Charter must enshrine consumers' rights to receive understandable information about products and their effects on health and the environment, choice of products, fair prices and access to justice.
EURO COOP also recalls the responsible work of consumer co-operatives in the promotion of educational programs to enable consumers to adopt more sustainable and environmentally-friendly patterns of consumption.
With regarding to Environmental policy EURO COOP is worried at the current proposal in the Convention. The wording in the Draft Treaty has been substantially weakened in comparison with the Amsterdam Treaty. The notion of sustainable development in its current wording is limited to socio- economic affairs. EURO COOP instead calls for the definition of Sustainable development to include the Environment and the rights of future generations.
In order to make these policies effective EURO COOP considers it to be of utmost importance that Article 8 (Fundamental principles) also incorporate the principle of integration of policies. Environmental protection requirements must be integrated into the design and implementation of Union policies, with a view to promoting sustainable development. Economic growth, social cohesion and environmental protection must go hand-in-hand in order to achieve sustainable development. For example; the objectives of agricultural policy must be reviewed and brought into line with the above mentioned requirements of sustainability, quality food production, health and environmental protection, appropriate and sensitive rural development.
3. Legislative Process
In order to make the Union a more fully participative democracy the role of civil society and social partners must be explicitly recognised in the Treaty. EURO COOP considers the extension of qualified majority voting and co-decision procedures a necessary step towards increasing the efficiency and democracy of the legislative procedure.
The respective competences of the Union and the Member States must be clearly defined, i.e., the application of the Principle of Subsidiarity must not be allowed to weaken the attainment of the objectives expressed in Article 3. In particular, EURO COOP calls for a high, minimum level of consumer rights across the Union. A high, minimum level of consumer rights will also lead to a level playing field for all undertakings (be they co-operatives, SMEs, etc.) thus increasing competition, leading to more choice, improved price transparency and better quality for consumers.
CONCLUSIONS
In addition to the full incorporation of the Charter of fundamental rights into the Treaty and the strengthening of the participation of civil society in the decision making process and in the implementation of Union policies, EURO COOP calls for:
- Recognition of the distinctive role and values of consumer co-operatives across the Union and their ethos that social objectives are equivalent and not subordinate to economic ones.
- Explicit and extended mention of the rights and protections of consumers in the Treaty objectives as well as in Article 38 of the Charter.
- The inclusion of an Article in the Treaty enshrining the principle of Coherence of policies and integration of Environmental protection as an essential condition for a sustainable development.
For further information, contact:
Dónal WALSHE, Secretary General
Tel.: +32.(0)2.285.00.70 - Fax: +32.(0)2.231.07.57 - E-mail: info@eurocoop.org
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