EXPERIENCE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION COUNTRIES IN THE FIELD OF AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVES

Abstract

A cooperative is an autonomous association of persons voluntarily united to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and desires through a jointly owned, democratically controlled enterprise. The key values on which authentic cooperatives are based were defined at the thirtieth congress of the International Cooperative Alliance in Manchester in 1995. The five key values of cooperatives are: self-help, democracy, equality, justice and solidarity. The aim of the research is to review the experiences of European Union countries in the field of agricultural cooperatives. These experiences should serve as guidelines in creating a strategy for further development of agricultural cooperatives in the Republic of Serbia. The research focused on three topics in the field of agricultural cooperatives, namely: (1) market participation of cooperatives, (2) development policies and strategies, and (3) attitudes of young farmers about association. The research was conducted using comparative and historical methods, as well as methods of analysis, synthesis, induction and deduction. In the countries of the European Union, service and traffic are more represented, in relation to the production function of cooperatives. Also, all EU countries have integration processes in cooperatives at the vertical level, ie economic association and connection of cooperatives, which results in a reduction in the total number of cooperatives and an increase in their share in total turnover.