Dear colleague,

More than 160,000 European enterprises are cooperatives. There are clear advantages of
this type of undertaking: sustainability, employment and solidarity. Although
cooperatives make profit in order to reinvest in their business, they don't see profit
making as their primary objective. The economic crisis has shown that more than ever
cooperatives have an important role to play. Therefore I would like to invite you to:

A Competitive Europe? The Case for Cooperatives

Kick-off event

16 November 2010
9.00-12.00 hours

Room ASP A1G2

European Parliament, Brussels

With participation of a broad range of sectors, including European cooperatives and

cooperative enterprises from the banking sector, the retail sector, the housing sector and
the pension sector.

Please e-mail your name, date of birth and full address to

reinout.heijdra@europarl.europa.eu, when you need an access badge, before November
9th.

Looking forward to see you.

Best regards,

Dennis de Jong