Cooperatıves Europe Appoınts A New Presıdent And Board
1 OCTOBER 2021
Cooperatives Europe members elected the new Board, Sectoral Representatives and Susanne Westhausen as the new President during the General Assembly held on 24 September 2021.
The General Assembly was a hybrid event hosted by FNCE in Paris, bringing European cooperators together both virtually and in person. The candidates for Board Members and President presented themselves first and then, the presidential candidates answered the questions directed at them at the Q&A session. The members cast their votes online and Susanne Westhausen, Director of the Danish cooperative Kooperationen, was elected the President of Cooperatives Europe.
Speaking to the participants of the General Assembly, Ms Westhausen said "Because we are one collective movement, uniting and representing people based enterprises around common values, we have unique possibilities to develop sustainable growth based on all the fantastic experiences we have in different sectors here in Europe but also in other parts of the world.” She continued "The cooperative way of doing business with the positive effects of the special ownership is unique! We just need to demonstrate our results – and do it together!"
Ms Westhausen succeeded Jean-Louis Bancel whose 4-year term has ended. In her speech, Ms Westhausen thanked Mr Bancel for his great contributions to the movement, such as the work with the board of directors on the cooperative response to the Covid-19 pandemic and many other projects over the past four years.
Ms Westhausen is the second female President of Cooperatives Europe which represents 176.000 cooperatives enterprises across Europe since 2006. The President of Cooperatives Europe is also the vice-president of the International Cooperative Alliance.
The new Board now consists out of 15 members: Pernilla BONDE of HSB Riksförbund, Jacques DEBRY of Febecoop, Katia DE LUCA of Alleanza delle Cooperative Italiane, Mieczyslaw GRODZKI of the National Cooperative Council, Andreas KAPPES of DGRV, Thomas MEYER of Coop-Fr, Ünal ÖRNEK of Orkoop, Anu PUUSA of Pellervo, Petar STEFANOV of the Central Cooperative Alliance, Vivian WOODELL of Co-operatives UK. Sector representatives are Isabelle FERRAND of EACB, Mathias FIEDLER of Eurocoop, Giuseppe GUERINI of CECOP, Leonardo POFFERI of Cogeca, and Dirk VANSINTJAN of Rescoop.EU.
Agricultural Credit Cooperatives of Turkey congratulates the elected president and the board members and wishes them a successful term.
Photo gallery