An essential foundation.
The Cooperative belongs to its Members. Not its Board of Directors.
It is essential to recall a fundamental principle that is too often forgotten: a cooperative is a community of people, not an entity led by an elite. The Board of Directors is not the owner of the cooperative; it serves the members. Its power is a temporary delegation, subject to a mandate of trust and accountability. We exist to ensure that this hierarchy is respected, both in law and in practice.
Our Mission: Restoring Trust, Defending Rights
The cooperative model holds immense potential: that of a democratic, participatory, and human-centered economy. But when governance becomes opaque, this ideal is confiscated. Decisions are made in restricted circles, balance sheets become indecipherable, and the members, who should be at the heart of the project, are silenced or treated with condescension.
This imbalance of power is not merely an administrative deviation; it is a break with the founding principles of the cooperative movement.
The OETC is a structured response to this imbalance.
We are not an association providing individual help; we are an independent European observatory that documents the governance of cooperatives and makes it understandable.
Our mission is to give members the information they lack, to make rules and accounts understandable, and to encourage directors to be accountable. We work with cooperatives that want to be transparent, not against the cooperative model.
Independence
We answer to no political or economic entity. Our sole loyalty is to the members and to cooperative principles. This independence is your best guarantee.
Our Core Values
Rigor and Expertise
Our analyses are not based on opinions, but on facts, figures and a rigorous reading of statutes and laws, with their sources. We counter arbitrariness with precision.
Transparency
We apply to ourselves the transparency we ask of others: our working methods and our sources are explained on this site, and we correct our mistakes publicly.
European Action
Members' questions are no longer local matters. Our status as a French association and our transnational outlook allow us to raise them at the European level, before the competent institutions.
Rigour and dialogue
We do not seek conflict, but we do not give up on rigour: when a right is disregarded, we say so, with facts and sources, and we invite cooperatives to remedy it.
Justice and Fairness
Our scope of action covers compliance with the law and the statutes, and the promotion of fair and dignified treatment of members.
