---------- Forwarded message --------- From: <[email protected]> Date: Tue, Sep 15, 2020 at 8:33 PM Subject: Do you want to sign?Towards a people and planet-oriented (digital) transition in Europe: Platform cooperatives and their fundamental role in the context of recovery To: <[email protected]> Dear Michel, Digital transition figures high on the EU policy agenda (Digital Europe and the digital single market, EU Recovery Plan, Cohesion Policy, etc.). At the same time, concerns are expressed on how gigantic players such as Amazon, Uber or AirBnb are about to monetize and “platformize” almost any aspect of people’s lives, including the most sensitive ones: personal opinions, daily activities, the functioning of democracies, the autonomy of states and the EU. Other digital start-ups follow their example. Some alternatives, so-called « platform cooperatives », have emerged to develop alternative models in many sectors : provision of food, mobility, care, support of SMEs, tourism, IT, … They differentiate themselves through democratic governance, territorial links, a fair sharing of the created value, a particular care for users’ wellbeing, ethical use of data, specific attention to enhancing social utility and environmental protection, inter-cooperation between projects. They have proven their value for the resilience of territories once again in the framework of the covid19 crisis. An increasing number of cities and regions are developing partnerships with these platform coop initiatives. However, a lot remains to be done so that platform coops can compete on a level playing field with dominant platforms and are able to attain sustainable economic models. The EU Recovery Plan and related policies are an important lever of change also in the platform economy *This is the reason why the following organisations, decided to elaborate a position paper, here attached. * *This paper is open to the signature of other organisations.You will find the list of organisations following* *https://coopdescommuns.org/fr/platform-cooperatives-and-their-role-in-the-co... <https://coopdescommuns.org/fr/platform-cooperatives-and-their-role-in-the-context-of-recovery/> NB : This paper has been written by the Co-communs working group, acting as an emerging European Alliance with commons activists, social economy networks and academics (*La Coop des Communs* - France ; *Smart* - Belgium ;* Internet Interdisciplinary Institute of the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya* - Spain ; *Réseau Européen des Villes et Régions de l’Économie Sociale (REVES) aisbl *- European Network ) and its partners (*Coompanions* - Sweden). They are in relation with the Platform Cooperativism Consortium, based in the New School (New York). Looking forward to hearing from you, With all my best thoughts, Nicole [image: Logo La Coop des Communs] <http://www.coopdescommuns.org/> *Nicole Alix* Présidente +33 (0)6 14 15 04 34 [email protected] coopdescommuns.org -- Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: http://commonstransition.org P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net <http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/