Cogeca (the General Confederation of Agricultural Cooperatives) represents the general and specific interests of
European agri-food, forestry, and fishery cooperatives among the EU Institutions and other socio-economic
organisations contributing to European decision making.
Our objectives
- 1 Represent the general and specific interests of European agri-food, forestry and fishery cooperatives within the context of the EU institutions and other socio-economic organisations contributing to European decision making;
- 2 Strengthen the network of European agri-cooperatives and promote their business cooperation;
- 3 Contribute to legal, economic, financial and social analyses of interest for agri-food, forestry and fishery cooperatives;
- 4Facilitate the exchange of best practices and set up platforms for dialogues on strategic business development in order to find appropriate solutions for current and future challenges and grasp arising opportunities;
- 5 Promote and showcase innovative solutions to create added value that benefits farmer-members, society, the environment and consumers.
Presidency
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Organisation structure
Copa & Copa and Cogeca operate on the basis of profoundly democratic principles. All of our office holders are put forward by their Member Organisation and then elected by Copa or Cogeca bodies respectively.
The highest decision making body of Copa and Cogeca respectively is called the Praesidium. Both of these are composed of the Presidents of each Member Organisation. They set out the general policy priorities for the organisations. Copa and Cogeca also hold regular joint Praesidium meetings together, referred to as the Praesidia meeting.
The Praesidium elects a President and six Vice Presidents among the members, for Copa and for Cogeca respectively. The Presidents and their Vice Presidents divide up their work on the basis of political dossiers and serve Copa and Cogeca as highest-level representatives.
The POCC and CCC consist of all of the Member Organisations represented. They discuss proposals from the Working Parties, prepare Praesidium meetings and coordinate all Copa and Cogeca policies.
Copa and Cogeca have 52 Working Parties. They consist of representatives and experts from Member Organisations and discuss a wide range of market, policy and scientific developments in various agricultural and food sectors and prepare joint Copa and Cogeca positions.
1957
The Treaty of Rome establishing the European Economic Community signed on 25th March 1957 already contained the most important framework provisions of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).The relationship between the Community authorities and the representatives of the agricultural sector was left open by the Treaty, but the Commission expressed its desire for close cooperation at an early stage and invited representatives of agricultural organisations to attend the 1958 Stresa Conference as observers.
1959
One year after Copa (the Committee of Professional Agricultural Organisations) was created, the national agricultural cooperative organisations founded their European umbrella organisation, Cogeca (the General Committee for Agricultural Cooperation in the European Union), which also included fishery cooperatives, on 24th September 1959.
Unity is strength
When Cogeca was first created, it was made up of six members. Since then, it has expanded almost sixfold and now has 35 full members, four affiliate members from the EU and 36 partner members. Cogeca, now the “General Confederation of Agricultural Cooperatives in the European Union”, currently promotes the general and specific interests of some 22,000 farmers’ cooperatives, which employ some 660,000 people across Europe and represent a global annual turnover in excess of 300 billion euros.
Since it was founded, Cogeca has been recognised by the European institutions as the main representative body and indeed the mouthpiece of the entire agricultural and fishery cooperative sector.
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