Principles of the European Cooperative Law from the perspective of Polish legislative challenges
Piotr Zakrzewski
The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin , Polandhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-4981-1480
Abstract
The principles of European Cooperative Law (PECOL) constitute an academic project intended as a reference point for the national legislator, e.g. Polish, who is faced with the task of adopting new cooperative law. PECOL consists of five chapters: the concept and subject of a cooperative, governance of cooperatives, financial structure of cooperatives, cooperative audit and cooperation between cooperatives. It does not include division, merger and transformation of cooperatives. The main assumption of PECOL is faithfulness to the goals, values and cooperative principles of the International Cooperative Alliance. These assumptions can be seen in the regulation on two types of goals of cooperatives, the principle of open membership, the non-binding of the member’s voting rights to the amount of the contributed capital, the indivisibility of capital, the cooperative audit that verifies the implementation of these assumptions and the obligation of cooperation between cooperatives, etc. PECOL regulates the key issue – transactions with members and persons who do not belong to a cooperative, together with the financial result – particularly carefully. It is the first to distinguish between the “cooperative surplus” and “profit” of cooperatives. PECOL also includes elements derived from the law of commercial companies, e.g. transferability of shares, investor members, and others. Therefore, it constitutes a valuable synthesis of traditional and modern solutions. At the same time, PECOL narrows the statutory freedom of members who cannot, for example, decide on the division of assets remaining after the liquidation of a cooperative.
Keywords:
cooperative, Principles of European Cooperative Law, cooperative lawReferences
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The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4981-1480
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