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99-638: Together with its sister social assurance company Lagun Aro, Caja Laboral spearheaded the Financial Group of the Mondragon Corporation , which according to company sources 'operates autonomously within the framework of a sole joint strategy'. It was the first Spanish financial institution to open its branches in the late afternoons/early evenings. Caja Laboral was mostly unaffected by the 2008 financial crisis , though they did have €162 million in bonds from Lehman Brothers . Effective with

198-484: A Common European Home . The 1960s saw the first attempts at enlargement . In 1961, Denmark , Ireland , the United Kingdom and Norway (in 1962), applied to join the three Communities. However, President Charles de Gaulle saw British membership as a Trojan Horse for U.S. influence and vetoed membership, and the applications of all four countries were suspended. Greece became the first country to join

297-517: A Parliamentary Assembly and Courts . Collectively they were known as the European Communities . The Communities still had independent personalities although were increasingly integrated. Future treaties granted the community new powers beyond simple economic matters which had achieved a high level of integration. As it got closer to the goal of political integration and a peaceful and united Europe, what Mikhail Gorbachev described as

396-683: A common market and customs union , among its six founding members : Belgium , France , Italy , Luxembourg , the Netherlands and West Germany . It gained a common set of institutions along with the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM) as one of the European Communities under the 1965 Merger Treaty (Treaty of Brussels). In 1993

495-560: A humanist concept of business, a philosophy of participation and solidarity, and a shared business culture. The culture is rooted in a shared mission and a number of principles, corporate values and business policies. Over the years, these links have been embodied in a series of operating rules approved on a majority basis by the Co-operative Congresses, which regulate the activity of the Governing Bodies of

594-713: A referendum on 25 September 1972 . The Treaties of Rome had stated that the European Parliament must be directly elected, however this required the Council to agree on a common voting system first. The Council procrastinated on the issue and the Parliament remained appointed, French President Charles de Gaulle was particularly active in blocking the development of the Parliament, with it only being granted Budgetary powers following his resignation. Parliament pressured for agreement and on 20 September 1976

693-692: A complete single market was achieved, known as the internal market , which allowed for the free movement of goods, capital, services, and people within the EEC. In 1994 the internal market was formalised by the EEA agreement. This agreement also extended the internal market to include most of the member states of the European Free Trade Association , forming the European Economic Area , which encompasses 15 countries. Upon

792-660: A democratic vote. Compared to similar jobs at local industries, Mondragon managers' wages are considerably lower (as some companies pay their best paid managers hundreds of times more than the lowest-paid employee of the company) and equivalent for middle management, technical and professional levels. Lower wage levels are on average 13% higher than similar jobs at local businesses. Spain's progressive tax rate further reduces any disparity in pay. These comparatively low wages can make it very difficult to recruit managers from investor-owned firms. Mondragon Corporation operates in four areas: finance, industry, retail, and knowledge, with

891-500: A dual focus: education-training and innovation, which have both been key elements in the development of the corporation. Training-education is mainly linked to the dynamism of Mondragon University , the significant role that Politeknika Ikastegia Txorierri, Arizmendi Ikastola and Lea Artibai Ikastetxea play in their respective areas and the activity of the Management and Co-operative Development Centre Otalora. Mondragon University

990-413: A fundamental role in the development of the sectors of focus. In 2009 they employed 742 people and had a budget of €53.7 million. In 2013 its network of technology centers and R&D units provided employment for 1,700 people and the commitment to R&D&I matters amounted to 136 million Euros, 8.5% of added value. Mondragon has 479 families of Patents for Inventions, which accounts for 25% patents in

1089-719: A key inspiration. In 2312 , a science fiction novel by Kim Stanley Robinson , the Mondragon Corporation has evolved into a planned economy system called the Mondragon Accord . The Mondragon Accord is controlled by means of a network of AIs running on quantum computers , and rules large parts of the Solar System , including Mercury and most of the moons of the gas giants ; only part of Earth , and its colonies in space, retain remnants of capitalist economies, while Mars has withdrawn from

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1188-519: A market system and they still exploit workers in South America, and they do things that are harmful to the society as a whole and they have no choice. If you’re in a system where you must make a profit in order to survive, you're compelled to ignore negative externalities, effects on others . Vicenç Navarro wrote that, from a business perspective, Mondragon is successful in matching efficiency with solidarity and democracy. However, he writes that

1287-901: A modern language service, manufactures educational equipment, and provides graphic arts services (mccgraphics S.Coop). In 2013, 71.1% of turnover came from international sales. Sales resulting from the export of products abroad and production generated in the 122 subsidiaries located in several different countries: China (15), France (17), Poland (8), Czech Republic (7), Mexico (8), Brazil (5), Germany (4), Italy (4), United Kingdom (3), Romania (3), United States (4), Turkey (2), Portugal (2), Slovakia (2), India (5), Thailand (1) and Morocco (1). Overall, in 2013 these 122 plants provided work for more than 11,000 people. The corporate industrial park in Kunshan , close to Shanghai houses seven subsidiaries. In 2012, it opened 11 new subsidiaries abroad, employing around 14,000 people. Its international sales that year marked

1386-773: A number of countries. The first was the Copreci plant in Mexico in 1990, followed by many others: up to 73 by the end of 2008, and 122 at the end of 2013. The goals were to increase competitiveness and market share, bring component supply closer to customers' plants, especially in the automotive and domestic appliance sectors, and to strengthen employment in the Basque Country by promoting exports of co-operatives' products by means of new platforms. Between 2002 and 2007, Fagor and Eroski issued bonds ( aportaciones subordinadas ). While they were commercialized as safe deposits ,

1485-469: A record number of 69% of its total sales (€5.8 billion, with a 2% fall compared to the previous year). Mondragon also participated in 91 international R&D projects. In 2014, the industrial cooperatives created 1,000 jobs, and internationalization continued with 125 production subsidiaries abroad – 3 more than the year before. Mondragon runs Eroski , one of the leading retail groups all over Spain and in southern France, and maintains close contacts with

1584-425: A working model of an alternative to the capitalist mode of production . In an April 2012 interview, Noam Chomsky said that, while Mondragon offers an alternative to capitalism, it was still embedded in a capitalist system which limits Mondragon's decisions: Take the most advanced case: Mondragon. It’s worker-owned, it’s not worker managed , although the management does come from the workforce often, but it’s in

1683-557: Is a co-operative university, which combines the development of knowledge, skills, and values, and maintains close relations with business, especially Mondragon co-operatives. Technological innovation is generated through the co-operatives' own R&D departments, the Corporate Science and Technology Plan, the corporation's 12 technology centers and the Garaia Innovation Park. The 15 technology centers play

1782-656: Is one of four case studies analyzed in Capital and the Debt Trap , which summarized evidence claiming that cooperatives tend to last longer and are less susceptible to perverse incentives and other problems of organizational governance than more traditionally managed organizations. The founders of Cooperation Jackson , a network of worker cooperatives in Jackson, Mississippi in the United States, cite Mondragon as

1881-509: The BRIC markets increased to 20% compared to the previous year. In 2013, international sales grew by 6.7% and accounted for 71.1% of total sales. On 16 October 2013, domestic appliance company Fagor Electrodomésticos filed for bankruptcy under Spanish law to renegotiate €1,1 billion of debt, after suffering heavy losses during the eurocrisis and the 2008–2014 Spanish real estate crisis putting 5,600 employees at risk of losing their jobs. This

1980-708: The Basque region of Spain . It was founded in the town of Mondragón in 1956 by Father José María Arizmendiarrieta and a group of his students at a technical college he founded. Its first product was paraffin heaters . It is the seventh-largest Spanish company in terms of asset turnover and the leading business group in the Basque Country . At the end of 2016, it employed 74,117 people in 257 companies and organizations in four areas of activity: finance, industry, retail and knowledge. By 2019, 81,507 people were employed. In 2024, it had over 70,000 workers, 30,660 in

2079-653: The Community budget had been correctly spent by the Community's institutions. The ECA provided an audit report for each financial year to the Council and Parliament and gave opinions and proposals on financial legislation and anti-fraud actions. It is the only institution not mentioned in the original treaties, having been set up in 1975. At the time of its abolition, the European Community pillar covered

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2178-729: The European Community , continuing to follow the supranational structure of the EEC. The EEC institutions became those of the EU, however the Court, Parliament and Commission had only limited input in the new pillars, as they worked on a more intergovernmental system than the European Communities. This was reflected in the names of the institutions, the council was formally the "Council of the European Union " while

2277-566: The European Economic Community in 1986, it was decided in 1984 to establish the "Mondragon Co-operative Group", the forerunner of the current corporation. In-service training for managers was strengthened by creating Otalora, dedicated to training, and the dissemination of co-operatives. The Group consisted of 23,130 workers at the end of 1990. On the international stage, the aim was to respond to growing globalisation , expanding abroad by establishing production plants in

2376-536: The European Free Trade Association ). The six were France, West Germany, Italy and the three Benelux countries: Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. The first enlargement was in 1973, with the accession of Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom. Greece, Spain and Portugal joined in the 1980s. The former East Germany became part of the EEC upon German reunification in 1990. Following the creation of

2475-809: The Institutions of the ECSC in that the Common Assembly and Court of Justice of the ECSC had their authority extended to the EEC and Euratom in the same role. However the EEC, and Euratom, had different executive bodies to the ECSC. In place of the ECSC's Council of Ministers was the Council of the European Economic Community , and in place of the High Authority was the Commission of the European Communities . There

2574-811: The Ohlin Report the Spaak Report would provide the basis for the Treaty of Rome . In 1956, Paul-Henri Spaak led the Intergovernmental Conference on the Common Market and Euratom at the Val Duchesse conference centre, which prepared for the Treaty of Rome in 1957. The conference led to the signature, on 25 March 1957, of the Treaty of Rome establishing a European Economic Community. The resulting communities were

2673-492: The Spanish Civil War . In 1943, Arizmendiarrieta established a technical college which became a training ground for managers, engineers and skilled labour for local companies, and primarily for the co-operatives. Arizmendiarrieta spent a number of years educating young people about a form of humanism based on solidarity and participation, in harmony with Catholic social teaching , and the importance of acquiring

2772-588: The treaties . It was designed to be independent, representing the interest of the Community as a whole. Every member state submitted one commissioner (two from each of the larger states, one from the smaller states). One of its members was the President , appointed by the council, who chaired the body and represented it. Under the Community, the European Parliament (formerly the European Parliamentary Assembly) had an advisory role to

2871-415: The 1960s the council also began to meet informally at the level of heads of government and heads of state; these European summits followed the same presidency system and secretariat as the council but was not a formal formation of it. The Commission of the European Communities was the executive arm of the community, drafting Community law , dealing with the day to running of the Community and upholding

2970-523: The 2009 Treaty of Lisbon , which incorporated the EC's institutions into the EU's wider framework and provided that the EU would "replace and succeed the European Community". In April 1951, the Treaty of Paris was signed, creating the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). This was an international community based on supranationalism and international law, designed to help the economy of Europe and prevent future war by integrating its members . With

3069-454: The 2009–10 basketball season, Caja Laboral became the new sponsors of Liga ACB and Euroleague club Saski Baskonia . In 2012, Caja Laboral merged with Ipar Kutxa to form the credit union Laboral Kutxa . This Spanish bank or insurance-related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Mondragon Corporation The Mondragon Corporation is a corporation and federation of worker cooperatives based in

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3168-561: The Accord in the century preceding the story. The Mondragon Corporation already appeared in Robinson's earlier Mars trilogy , as one of the Terran groups involved in the colonization and terraforming of Mars ; the coop is also portrayed as the inspiration of both the bogdanovist movement and the libertarian-leaning Praxis Corporation two of the main forces leading the revolution for

3267-694: The Basque Country, 29,340 in the rest of Spain and around 10,000 abroad. Mondragon cooperatives operate in accordance with the Statement on the Co-operative Identity maintained by the International Co-operative Alliance . In 1941, as a young Catholic priest, Arizmendiarrieta settled in Mondragón, a town with a population of 7,000 that had not yet recovered from the poverty, hunger, exile, and tension of

3366-514: The Basque Country, participating in more than 30 R&D cooperation projects at the European level. In 2012, Richard D. Wolff , an American professor of economics, hailed the Mondragon set of enterprises, including the good wages it provides for employees, the empowerment of ordinary workers in decision making, and the measure of equality for female workers, as a major success and cited it as

3465-538: The Community and began the longest application process for any country. With the prospect of further enlargement, and a desire to increase areas of co-operation, the Single European Act was signed by the foreign ministers on 17 and 28 February 1986 in Luxembourg and The Hague respectively. In a single document it dealt with reform of institutions, extension of powers, foreign policy cooperation and

3564-651: The Community. Prior to 2004, the larger members (France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom) have had two Commissioners. In the European Parliament , members are allocated a set number seats related to their population, however these ( since 1979 ) have been directly elected and they sit according to political allegiance, not national origin. Most other institutions, including the European Court of Justice , have some form of national division of its members. There were three political institutions which held

3663-458: The Council agreed part of the necessary instruments for election, deferring details on electoral systems which remain varied to this day. During the tenure of President Jenkins , in June 1979, the elections were held in all the then-members (see 1979 European Parliament election ). The new Parliament, galvanised by direct election and new powers, started working full-time and became more active than

3762-409: The Council and Commission. There were a number of Community legislative procedures , at first there was only the consultation procedure , which meant Parliament had to be consulted, although it was often ignored. The Single European Act gave Parliament more power, with the assent procedure giving it a right to veto proposals and the cooperation procedure giving it equal power with the Council if

3861-467: The Council on Community matters. This replaced the informal parliamentary blocking powers established by the 1979 Isoglucose decision. It also abolished any existing state like Simple Majority voting in the EEC, replacing it with Qualified Majority Voting , a procedure more commonly used in international organisations. The Treaty of Amsterdam transferred responsibility for free movement of persons (e.g., visas , illegal immigration , asylum ) from

3960-676: The EC in 1961 as an associate member, however its membership was suspended in 1967 after a coup d'état established a military dictatorship called the Regime of the Colonels . A year later, in February 1962, Spain attempted to join the European Community. However, because Francoist Spain was not a democracy, all members rejected the request in 1964. The four countries resubmitted their applications on 11 May 1967 and with Georges Pompidou succeeding Charles de Gaulle as French president in 1969,

4059-435: The ECSC and Euratom were merged with that of the EEC, creating a single institutional structure governing the three separate Communities. From here on, the term European Communities were used for the institutions (for example, from Commission of the European Economic Community to the Commission of the European Communities ). The Council of the European Communities was a body holding legislative and executive powers and

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4158-491: The EU in 1993, it has enlarged to include an additional sixteen countries by 2013. Member states are represented in some form in each institution. The Council is also composed of one national minister who represents their national government. Each state also has a right to one European Commissioner each, although in the European Commission they are not supposed to represent their national interest but that of

4257-487: The European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM or sometimes EAEC). These were markedly less supranational than the previous communities, due to protests from some countries that their sovereignty was being infringed (however there would still be concerns with the behaviour of the Hallstein Commission ). Germany became a founding member of the EEC, and Konrad Adenauer

4356-523: The European institutions until the French veto was reinstated. Eventually, a compromise was reached with the Luxembourg compromise on 29 January 1966 whereby a gentlemen's agreement permitted members to use a veto on areas of national interest. On 1 July 1967, when the Merger Treaty came into operation, combining the institutions of the ECSC and Euratom into that of the EEC, they already shared

4455-895: The French group Les Mousquetaires and the German retailer Edeka , with whom it set up the Alidis international purchasing group in 2002. The worker-owners and consumer-members participate in the co-operative's decision-making bodies and management of Eroski. At the end of 2013, Eroski posted a turnover of €6.6 billion, operating 2.069 stores made up of 90 Eroski hypermarkets, 1,211 Eroski/center, Caprabo , Eroski/city, Aliprox, Familia, Onda and Cash & Carry supermarkets, 155 branches of Eroski travel agencies, 63 petrol stations, 39 Forum Sport stores and 221 IF perfume stores. In southern France Eroski had 4 hypermarkets, 16 supermarkets and 17 petrol stations, and 4 perfume stores in Andorra. Retail includes

4554-643: The High Authority in protest and began work on alternative communities, based on economic integration rather than political integration. Following the Messina Conference in 1955, Paul-Henri Spaak was given the task to prepare a report on the idea of a customs union . The so-called Spaak Report of the Spaak Committee formed the cornerstone of the intergovernmental negotiations at Val Duchesse conference centre in 1956. Together with

4653-557: The Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) pillar to the European Community (JHA was renamed Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters (PJCC) as a result). Both Amsterdam and the Treaty of Nice also extended codecision procedure to nearly all policy areas, giving Parliament equal power to the Council in the Community. In 2002, the Treaty of Paris which established the ECSC expired, having reached its 50-year limit (as

4752-622: The Maastricht Treaty in 1993, these institutions became those of the European Union, though limited in some areas due to the pillar structure. Despite this, Parliament in particular has gained more power over legislation and security of the commission. The Court of Justice was the highest authority in the law, settling legal disputes in the Community, while the Auditors had no power but to investigate. The EEC inherited some of

4851-466: The Sovereignty of Labour, Instrumental and Subordinate Nature of Capital, Participatory Management, Payment Solidarity, Inter-cooperation, Social Transformation, Universality and Education. This philosophy is complemented by four corporate values: Co-operation , acting as owners and protagonists; Participation , which takes shape as a commitment to management; Social Responsibility , by means of

4950-608: The USW, Mondragon, and the Ohio Employee Ownership Center (OEOC) announced their detailed union co-op model . The industrial sector ended 2012 with a new record of €4 billion in international sales, beating sales figures from before the financial crisis of 2007–2008 . Mondragon opened 11 new production subsidiaries. International sales that year accounted for 69% of all sales, a 26% increase from 2009 to 2012, and with 14,000 employees abroad. Mondragon's share in

5049-992: The Voluntary Social Welfare Body Lagun Aro , which had an asset fund totaling €5,566 million at the end of 2014. The yield obtained from this fund is used to cover long-term retirement, widowhood, and invalidity benefits, complementary to those offered by the Spanish social security system. The corporation's companies manufacture consumer goods, capital goods , industrial components, products, and systems for construction, and services. The latter includes very diverse business groups such as Abantail: Adaptive design optimization, Alecop: Engineering training, LKS Consultores: Attorneys etc., KREAN: Architects and engineers. MCCTelecom: Telecommunication engineering. Mondragon Lingua: Translation and language schools, Mondragon Sistemas: Automation, Industrial Computing and Telecommunications. Ondoan: Turnkey projects in

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5148-501: The Western and Eastern blocs, other than reconcile Member States such as France and Germany after WW2. The tasks entrusted to the Community were divided among an assembly, the European Parliament, Council, Commission, and Court of Justice. Moreover, restrictions to market were lifted to further liberate trade among Member States. Citizens of Member States (other than goods, services, and capital) were entitled to freedom of movement. The CAP, Common Agricultural Policy, regulated and subsided

5247-416: The agricultural sphere. A European Social Fund was implemented in favour of employees who lost their jobs. A European Investment Bank was established to "facilitate the economic expansion of the Community by opening up fresh resources" (Art. 3 Treaty of Rome 3/25/1957). All these implementations included overseas territories. Competition was to be kept alive to make products cheaper for European consumers. For

5346-412: The aim of creating a federal Europe two further communities were proposed: a European Defence Community and a European Political Community . While the treaty for the latter was being drawn up by the Common Assembly , the ECSC parliamentary chamber, the proposed defence community was rejected by the French Parliament . ECSC President Jean Monnet , a leading figure behind the communities, resigned from

5445-433: The catering industry, cold stores, and refrigeration equipment. Specifically focusing on the automotive sector, the corporation also manufactures a wide variety of dies, molds and tooling for casting iron and aluminium, and occupies a leading position in machinery for the casting sector. In Industrial Components, Mondragon posted a turnover of €1.5 billion in 2009, a sector in which it operates as an integrated supplier for

5544-474: The commission was formally the "Commission of the European Communities ". There are more competencies listed in Article 3 of the European Communities pillar than there are in Article 3 of the Treaty of Rome. This is due to the fact that some competencies were already inherent in the Treaty of Tome, some were referred to in the Treaty of Rome, and some were extended under Article 235 of the Treaty of Rome. Competencies were added to cover trans-European networks, and

5643-424: The corporation (Standing Committee, General Council), the Grassroots Co-operatives and the Divisions they belong to, from the organisational, institutional and economic points of view as well as in terms of assets. This framework of business culture has been structured based on a common culture derived from the 10 Basic Co-operative Principles , in which Mondragon is rooted: Open Admission, Democratic Organisation,

5742-413: The corporation's organisational levels and incorporated into the four-year strategic plans and the annual business plans of the individual co-operatives, divisions, and the corporation as a whole. At Mondragon, there are agreed-upon wage ratios between executive work and field or factory work which earns a minimum wage. These ratios range from 3:1 to 9:1 in different cooperatives and average 5:1. That is,

5841-453: The council was not unanimous. In 1970 and 1975, the Budgetary treaties gave Parliament power over the Community budget . The Parliament's members, up-until 1980 were national MPs serving part-time in the Parliament. The Treaties of Rome had required elections to be held once the council had decided on a voting system, but this did not happen and elections were delayed until 1979 (see 1979 European Parliament election ). After that, Parliament

5940-446: The council, Parliament or another party place a request for legislation to the commission. The Commission then drafts this and presents it to the council for approval and the Parliament for an opinion (in some cases it had a veto, depending upon the legislative procedure in use). The commission's duty is to ensure it is implemented by dealing with the day-to-day running of the Union and taking others to Court if they fail to comply. After

6039-431: The courts classed them as riskier debt instruments. When the yields fell during the financial crisis, bond-holders sued against the cooperatives. In 2008, the worker-owners of the cooperatives Ampo (metal casting) and Irizar (coaches) voted to leave the corporation. In October 2009, the United Steelworkers announced an agreement with Mondragon to create worker cooperatives in the United States. On 26 March 2012,

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6138-418: The customs union, the treaty provided for a 10% reduction in custom duties and up to 20% of global import quotas. Progress on the customs union proceeded much faster than the twelve years planned. However, France faced some setbacks due to their war with Algeria . The six states that founded the EEC and the other two Communities were known as the " inner six " (the "outer seven" were those countries who formed

6237-400: The distribution of wealth based on solidarity; and Innovation , focusing on constant renewal in all areas. This business culture translates into compliance with a number of Basic Objectives (Customer Focus, Development, Innovation, Profitability, People in Co-operation and Involvement in the Community) and General Policies approved by the Co-operative Congress, which are taken on board at all

6336-412: The end of 1959 when the foreign ministers of the six members announced that would be meeting quarterly to discuss political issues and international problems. One of the first important accomplishments of the EEC was the establishment (1962) of common price levels for agricultural products. In 1968, internal tariffs (tariffs on trade between member nations) were removed on certain products. Another crisis

6435-603: The energy and environmental sector. In the leisure and sports area, it manufactures Orbea bicycles, exercise equipment and items for camping, garden and beach. In capital goods, Mondragon posted a turnover of €976 million in 2009 and is the leading Spanish manufacturer of machining (Danobat Group) and sheet metal forming (Fagor Arrasate Group) machine tools. These machines are complemented by automation and control products for machine tools, packaging machinery, machinery for automating assembly processes and processing wood, forklift trucks, electric transformers, integrated equipment for

6534-410: The entry into force of the Maastricht Treaty in 1993, the EEC was renamed the European Community to reflect that it covered a wider range than economic policy. This was also when the three European Communities, including the EC, were collectively made to constitute the first of the three pillars of the European Union , which the treaty also founded. The EC existed in this form until it was abolished by

6633-404: The executive and legislative power of the EEC, plus one judicial institution and a fifth body created in 1975. These institutions (except for the auditors) were created in 1957 by the EEC but from 1967 onwards they applied to all three Communities. The Council represents the member state governments, the Parliament represents citizens and the Commission represents the European interest. Essentially,

6732-430: The first 15 years, many co-operatives were established, thanks to the autarky of the market and the awakening of the Spanish economy . During these years, also with the encouragement of Arizmendiarrieta, the Caja Laboral ("Labor savings bank", 1959) and the Social Welfare Body Lagun Aro ("Friend/help time", 1966 were established that played a key role. The first local group was created, Ularco. In 1969, Eroski

6831-435: The first treaty, it was the only one with a limit). No attempt was made to renew its mandate; instead, the Treaty of Nice transferred certain of its elements to the Treaty of Rome and hence its work continued as part of the EC area of the European Community's remit. After the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon in 2009 the pillar structure ceased to exist. The European Community, together with its legal personality ,

6930-524: The following areas; Since the end of World War II , sovereign European countries have entered into treaties and thereby co-operated and harmonised policies (or pooled sovereignty ) in an increasing number of areas, in the European integration project or the construction of Europe ( French : la construction européenne ). The following timeline outlines the legal inception of the European Union (EU)—the principal framework for this unification. The EU inherited many of its present responsibilities from

7029-425: The food group Erkop , for catering, cleaning, stock-breeding, and horticulture with Auzo Lagun , a co-operative in group catering and cleaning of buildings and premises, and integrated service in the health sector. In 2008, worker-members voted to expand the cooperative transformation to the retail group as a whole, turning subsidiaries into co-operatives , and making salaried workers worker-members. This area has

7128-430: The general manager of an average Mondragon cooperative earns no more than 5 times as much as the theoretical minimum wage paid in their cooperative. For most workers, this ratio is smaller because there are few Mondragon worker-owners that earn minimum wages, because most jobs are somewhat specialized and are classified at higher wage levels. The wage ratio of a cooperative is decided periodically by its worker-owners through

7227-472: The independence of Mars. In Robinson's book The Ministry for the Future , the Mondragon Corporation is introduced in chapter 58 as a model for a future, post-capitalist, cooperative economy. European Economic Community The European Economic Community ( EEC ) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957, aiming to foster economic integration among its member states. It

7326-440: The industrialization of the construction process, including engineering and assembly services. The ORONA Group produces elevators. In services to business, sales totaled €248 million in 2008, including business consultancy services , architecture and engineering , property consulting, design and innovation (LKS Group), systems engineering for electromechanical installations, and integrated logistics engineering. It also offers

7425-453: The integration process. It was mentioned in the treaties for the first time in the Single European Act (see below). Greece re-applied to join the community on 12 June 1975, following the restoration of democracy, and joined on 1 January 1981. Following on from Greece, and after their own democratic restoration, Spain and Portugal applied to the communities in 1977 and joined on 1 January 1986. In 1987, Turkey formally applied to join

7524-408: The latter distinguishing Mondragon from other business groups. In 2013, the corporation posted a total revenue of over €12 billion (roughly US$ 16 billion), and employed 74,061 workers, making it Spain's fourth-largest industrial and tenth-largest financial group. This area includes the banking business of Laboral Kutxa (successor of Caja Laboral ), the insurance company Seguros Lagun Aro , and

7623-1050: The leading car manufacturers , offering from the design and development of a part to the industrialization and supply of components and assemblies. It has different business units such as brakes, axles, suspension, transmission, engines, aluminium wheel rims, fluid conduction, and other internal and external vehicle components. It also produces components for the main domestic appliance manufacturers in three business areas: white goods, home comfort, and electronics. And it manufactures flanges and pipe accessories for processing oil-gas, petrochemical plants and power generation, copper and aluminium electrical conductors, and components for conveyors. In construction, sales totaled €974 million in 2009. Mondragon has constructed buildings and important infrastructure projects. It designs and builds large metallic (URSSA), laminated wood and prefabricated concrete structures; supplies prefabricated parts in polymer concrete ; offers solutions for formwork and structures ( ULMA Group ) as well as public works machinery and

7722-425: The leave is a workforce drop by 13% and a 15% cut of the group's sales. As successful cooperatives they were contributing 10% of their profit to a common fund supporting ailing cooperatives. They will not contribute to the solidarity fund but they will keep insuring their workers with Lagun Aro and collaborate with Mondragon Unibertsitatea and other cooperatives in the group. Mondragon co-operatives are united by

7821-482: The necessary technical knowledge before creating the first co-operative . In 1955, he selected five young people to establish the first company of the co-operative and industrial beginning of the Mondragon Corporation. The company was called Talleres Ulgor ("Ulgor workshops"), an acronym derived from the surnames of Usatorre, Larrañaga, Gorroñogoitia, Ormaechea, and Ortubay, known today as Fagor Electrodomésticos (Spanish for "Fagor electric appliances"). In

7920-549: The number of employees who are not owners has increased more rapidly than worker-owners, to a point that in some companies, for example in the supermarket chains owned by Mondragon, the first is a much larger group than the second. In Navarro's view, this establishes a two-tier system – for example, in terms of whom to save in the case the company collapses. In the collapse of Fagor, the relocation of employees to other companies belonging to Mondragon favored those who were worker-owners, which may affect labor relations: Actually, one of

8019-428: The previous assemblies. Shortly after its election, the Parliament proposed that the Community adopt the flag of Europe design used by the Council of Europe . The European Council in 1984 appointed an ad hoc committee for this purpose. The European Council in 1985 largely followed the committee's recommendations, but as the adoption of a flag was strongly reminiscent of a national flag representing statehood ,

8118-594: The single market. It came into force on 1 July 1987. The act was followed by work on what would be the Maastricht Treaty , which was agreed on 10 December 1991, signed the following year and coming into force on 1 November 1993 establishing the European Union, and paving the way for the European Monetary Union . The EU absorbed the European Communities as one of its three pillars . The EEC's areas of activities were enlarged and were renamed

8217-409: The successes of Mondragon was its ability to create a sense of identity among the workers within the company, encouraging an environment of solidarity and collegiality among them, a feeling that also extended (although to a much lesser degree) to non-worker-owners. The connection felt by the latter group has somewhat weakened, however, exposing a vulnerable point for the cooperative. The Mondragon system

8316-419: The topic. For example, if agriculture was being discussed, the council would be composed of each national minister for agriculture. They represented their governments and were accountable to their national political systems. Votes were taken either by majority (with votes allocated according to population) or unanimity. In these various forms they share some legislative and budgetary power of the Parliament. Since

8415-632: The veto was lifted. Negotiations began in 1970 under the pro-European UK government of Edward Heath , who had to deal with disagreements relating to the Common Agricultural Policy and the UK's relationship with the Commonwealth of Nations . Nevertheless, two years later the accession treaties were signed so that Denmark, Ireland and the UK joined the Community effective 1 January 1973. The Norwegian people had rejected membership in

8514-603: The work of the Culture Committee and Education Committee that were previously sharing existing competencies. The only entry in Article 3 that represented something new is the competence covering the entry and movement of persons in the internal market. However, after the Treaty of Maastricht, Parliament gained a more formal role. Maastricht brought in the codecision procedure , which gave it equal legislative power with

8613-523: Was absorbed into the newly consolidated European Union which merged in the other two pillars (however Euratom remained distinct). This was originally proposed under the European Constitution but that treaty failed ratification in 2005. The main aim of the EEC, as stated in its preamble, was to "preserve peace and liberty and to lay the foundations of an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe". Calling for balanced economic growth, this

8712-636: Was also known as the European Common Market (ECM) in the English-speaking countries, and sometimes referred to as the European Community even before it was officially renamed as such in 1993. In 2009, the EC formally ceased to exist and its institutions were directly absorbed by the EU. This made the Union the formal successor institution of the Community. The Community's initial aim was to bring about economic integration, including

8811-464: Was composed of one judge per state with a president elected from among them. Its role was to ensure that Community law was applied in the same way across all states and to settle legal disputes between institutions or states. It became a powerful institution as Community law overrides national law. The fifth institution is the European Court of Auditors . Its ensured that taxpayer funds from

8910-404: Was controversial, the "flag of Europe" design was adopted only with the status of a "logo" or "emblem". The European Council, or European summit, had developed since the 1960s as an informal meeting of the Council at the level of heads of state. It had originated from then- French President Charles de Gaulle 's resentment at the domination of supranational institutions (e.g. the commission) over

9009-526: Was elected every five years. In the following 20 years, it gradually won co-decision powers with the Council over the adoption of legislation, the right to approve or reject the appointment of the Commission President and the commission as a whole, and the right to approve or reject international agreements entered into by the Community. The Court of Justice of the European Communities was the highest court of on matters of Community law and

9108-419: Was followed by the bankruptcy of the whole Fagor group on 6 November 2013. In July 2014, Fagor was bought by Catalonian company Cata for €42.5 million. Cata pledged to create 705 direct jobs in the Basque Country and to continue the brand names Fagor, Edesa, Aspes, and Splendid. In 2022, the worker-owners of ULMA Group (scaffolding) and Orona (elevators) voted to leave the corporation. Estimated impact of

9207-466: Was founded by merging ten small local consumer co-operatives . During the next 20 years, from 1970 to 1990, the dynamic continued, with a strong increase in new co-operatives promoted by Caja Laboral's Business Division, the promotion of co-operative associations, the formation of local groups, and the founding of the Ikerlan ("Research work") research centre in 1974. With Spain scheduled to join

9306-399: Was greater difference between these than name: the French government of the day had grown suspicious of the supranational power of the High Authority and sought to curb its powers in favour of the intergovernmental style Council. Hence the council had a greater executive role in the running of the EEC than was the situation in the ECSC. By virtue of the Merger Treaty in 1967, the executives of

9405-496: Was made leader in a very short time. The first formal meeting of the Hallstein Commission was held on 16 January 1958 at the Chateau de Val-Duchesse . The EEC (direct ancestor of the modern Community) was to create a customs union while Euratom would promote co-operation in the nuclear power sphere. The EEC rapidly became the most important of these and expanded its activities. The first move towards political developments came at

9504-415: Was subsequently renamed the European Community ( EC ) upon becoming integrated into the first pillar of the newly formed European Union (EU) in 1993. In the popular language, the singular European Community was sometimes inaccurately used in the wider sense of the plural European Communities , in spite of the latter designation covering all the three constituent entities of the first pillar. The EEC

9603-476: Was thus the main decision-making body of the Community. Its Presidency rotated between the member states every six months and it is related to the European Council , which was an informal gathering of national leaders (started in 1961) on the same basis as the council. The council was composed of one national minister from each member state. However the Council met in various forms depending upon

9702-720: Was to be accomplished through: Citing Article 2 from the original text of the Treaty of Rome of the 25th of March 1957, the EEC aimed at "a harmonious development of economic activities, a continuous and balanced expansion, an increase in stability, an accelerated raising of the standard of living and closer relations between the States belonging to it". Given the fear of the Cold War, many Western Europeans were afraid that poverty would make "the population vulnerable to communist propaganda" (Meurs 2018, p. 68), meaning that increasing prosperity would be beneficial to harmonise power between

9801-518: Was triggered in regard to proposals for the financing of the Common Agricultural Policy , which came into force in 1962. The transitional period whereby decisions were made by unanimity had come to an end, and majority-voting in the council had taken effect. Then- French President Charles de Gaulle 's opposition to supranationalism and fear of the other members challenging the CAP led to an "empty chair policy" whereby French representatives were withdrawn from

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