MAY 2018

CUBA
What next for co-ops in Cuba with Miguel Díaz-Canel as president?
Cuban leader Raúl Castro stepped
down on 19 April to be succeeded as the
country’s president by Miguel Díaz-Canel.
What will this mean for the country’s
co-operative sector?
While Mr Castro is no longer president,
he will remain first secretary of the
Communist Party until 2021, when
the new president takes over the role.
Elected by the National Assembly, Mr
Díaz-Canel is a trained electrical engineer.
A close ally of the Castro family, he
served as bodyguard to Raúl Castro,
and has been involved in politics since
1987. A former minister of higher
education, he has supported access
to the internet (albeit censored) and
LGBT rights.
In his inauguration speech, Mr Díaz-
Canel confirmed Mr Castro would
continue to lead the country. He defines
himself as a Raúlista economic reformer,
which implies he will continue Mr Castro’s
efforts to shrink the public sector and
p Miguel Díaz-Canel and Raul Castro
boost small private enterprises in
a cautious manner.
Under Raúl Castro’s rule, nearly
600,000 small-service business people
were licensed. Following reforms last
year, co-ops in non-agricultural sectors
can only operate in the province where
they formed, and the distribution
of income within them is regulated
to avoid inequality.
Furthermore, the pay gap between
the owner and lowest paid employee
cannot be greater than three times.
Cuban people can also be a member of
only one co-operative, or own only one
private business. Since August, licences
for self-employed businesses have been
frozen to address alleged illegalities
within the sector.
In another attempt to boost selfemployed
businesses, the government
opened a wholesale market in March
for non-agricultural co-ops in Havana.
The market enables co-ops in the
restaurant industry to buy directly from
wholesales at prices that are 20% lower.
This is the first wholesale market
available for co-ops, but the authorities
plan to open more. The government
also intends to introduce similar access
to lower petrol prices for co-ops in the
transport industry.
In a speech after stepping down,
Raúl Castro confirmed the reform
of the economy would continue
under Miguel Díaz-Canel, focused on
developing the self-employed sector and
continuing the experiment with nonagricultural
co-operatives.
EUROPE
Co-ops are
key to a more social
Europe, says CECOP
-CICOPA Europe
A conference on social economy and social
entrepreneurship has looked at the future
implications of the digital revolution and
inclusive growth.
The event was centred around the
European Pillar of Social Rights, which
was jointly signed by the European
Parliament, Council and Commission
on 17 November 2017. The pillar commits
EU states to 20 principles and rights,
including equal access to the labour
market; the right to health care;
a better work-life balance; and gender
equality for pay.
Patrick Develtere, principal adviser on
European social policy at the European
Political Strategy Centre of the European
Commission, who moderated the morning
session, said the EU wanted to “stand
up for the rights of its citizens in a fastchanging
world”.
Keynote speaker Giuseppe Guerini,
president of the European confederation
of industrial and service co-operatives
(CECOP-CICOPA Europe), said the social
economy – and in particular worker and
social co-operatives – play an important
role in building a more social Europe.
He said the pillar was “a good start”
for a “more social Europe”, something
CECOP had been campaigning for.
“This initiative has been important to
raise awareness among the member states
on the need for a more social Europe,
to demonstrate that business activities,
investments and the social dimension
can be combined to create growth and
development,” he said.
He stressed it was important to recognise
the “active contribution” of co-ops to the
sustainability of the local economies, and
called on governments to support this.
“This ability must be supported with
regulatory policies,” he said.
“An example concerns the public
procurements: from this point of view
the 2014 Procurement and Concession
Directive is a clear positive example,
thanks to the provision of social clauses
and reserved contracts for enterprises
involved in work integration of
disadvantaged people.”
He added that the simplification of
taxation mechanisms was also useful.
“This does not just mean reducing taxes;
and nor is it a question of losing revenue
from the state taxes, because what seems
lost on the one hand can be greatly
increased by savings and efficiency, such
as reducing poverty.
“For example, if I give up a share
of taxes owed by the company on the work
done by a disadvantaged worker, but
I save money that I would have to spend
on subsidies and assistance for these
people, we can have an obvious benefit.
“What is needed is to learn how
to measure it. In Italy, for example, we are
using an evaluation method that measures
these relationships with a scientific
analysis validated by a university.”
Participants at the two-day forum
examined ways the social economy could
become sustainable and discussed the
favourable conditions for a strong social
economy in the EU.
Held in Sofia, Bulgaria, the meeting
was organised in the framework of the
Bulgarian presidency of the EU.
16 | MAY 2018