The Lehendakari assures that co-operativism forms part of the Basque Country’s DNA and is a world benchmark

• Iñigo Urkullu attended the event in Bilbao to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Basque Country’s Higher Council of Co-operatives.
• "We join forces to achieve common goals. We come together to be stronger,” he said.

The Lehendakari stated that co-operativism “forms part of our DNA” and represents a way of tackling challenges that “it helps us to achieve our goals through work and shared effort”. This lunchtime in Bilbao, Iñigo Urkullu attended the event organised to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Higher Council of Co-operatives in the Basque Country, at which he was accompanied by the ministers Olatz Garamendi, Arantxa Tapia and Nerea Melgosa.

The Lehendakari began his speech by thanking the Council for its commitment to maintaining the initial objective “of structuring Basque co-operativism and reinforcing its values”.

In this regard, he stated that co-operatives share common values such as free membership, mutual aid, a democratic decision-making system, personal effort, equality and solidarity, and that thanks to “this way of being and doing things”, the Basque co-operative activity is a global benchmark and a mirror in which many countries look to. “We join forces to achieve common goals. We come together to be stronger,” he said.

Urkullu assured that thanks to collaboration and the “auzolan” spirit, the Basque Country has managed to make progress as a society and reminded us that it is at times of great difficulty, such as those we are experiencing as a result of the unilateral invasion of Ukraine, that the results of this attitude of cooperation and joining forces can best be measured. “In the face of adversity, we have shown ourselves to be true cooperative members of the Basque Country,” he said.

Finally, the Lehendakari encouraged us to continue turning our own co-operative model into a benchmark, “promoting the auzolan and believing in our way of doing things”, he concluded.