Towards a EU Roadmap for the Commons

* Policy Document: TOWARDS A EU ROADMAP FOR THE COMMONS ? NEW AND SUSTAINABLE SOCIO-ECONOMIC MODELS FOR LIVING, UNDERTAKING, PREPARING ECOLOGICAL TRANSITION AND SOLIDARITY IN COMMONS. By Nicole Alix and Sarah de Heusch. Coop des Communs, March 28 2019

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By Nicole Alix and Sarah de Heusch:

"Everywhere in the world, different forms of collective ownership and governance are invented and reinvented, to create, preserve or give access to goods and services "in commons".

The shared goods and services entail both natural and immaterial assets. Free software, databases and IT infrastructure, as well as collective housing, gardens and work spaces are examples of innovative solutions that answer to human needs and allow us to live together today and tomorrow. They are in line with the development of technology and changes in demography and ecology on a global scale. The emerging ownership and governance structures are currently being thought of and analyzed through the common’s evaluation grid proposed by Elinor Ostrom, who won the Nobel Prize in 2009. Ostrom writes about commons as a shared and open resource, a group of involved actors and a mode of governance.

Commons exist when collective action transforms a resource into a motor for a group to democratically co-construct a shared future. By proposing not to reduce the reading of the world to a too binary approach between market and public power, the commons open a new socio-political perspective. By relying on the capacity of communities, collective citizens, to bring innovation and social transformation, the Commons are likely to enrich our representative democracies and contribute to the transitions that our societies must invent.

At a time when

- People are asking for more participation and contributive democracy, the commons approach can be a bulwark against the rise of populism, - Forms of work and social protection are changing deeply and cities are affected by platforms extracting monetary value out of cooperation and co-creation processes – not redistributing it to the communities that create or enable them - The concept of “sharing economy” is being debased by capitalist digital startups, the development of fairer and more democratic platforms is much necessary, such as platform coops, we are convinced that an alliance and a reciprocal relationship between SSE and commons will foster the trully collaborative” economy’s development. Together, SSE and commons are able to constitute a solid foundation for sustainable development – based on a combination of different perspectives on economy – instead of just providing short-term solutions, that actually undermine possibility for solidarity within the community.

How can the EU favor these ways towards an ecological and solidarity-based “transition”?

The new European Commission could promote and support these initiatives, through three types of policies based on three axes:

Three types of EU policies:

1 – GIVING VISIBILITY AND ENABLING COMMONS INITIATIVES

2 – PROMOTING PARTICIPATORY RESEARCH

3 - PROMOTING COLLABORATION AND CROSS-FERTILIZATION BETWEEN VARIOUS ACTORS

It is important to bring together people from different cultures and institutions to create links and possible convergences between several social and solidarity economy cultures and other stakeholders including: the commons, open source, peer-to-peer and collaborative economy, civil society organizations, cities and labor organizations, as well as social protection groups, in relation with universities and research groups (bringing action research and open knowledge to feed and inform the process). The concept of “commons” covers different realities in the different EU countries, with different names, which have to be identified and linked together Promoting exchange between these different actors allows an integrated vision of the impact of the digital world (labor and production) on the “physical world” be it the worker (like the delivery riders), the territory (through housing, mobility, services provisions…) and those who organize them (unions, coops, local authorities…). These exchanges also allow citizen-driven initiatives to emerge on a specific territory (like “urban vegetable plots”) or in specific fields (like software development).

Given the urgency for transition towards a more environmentally driven economy, guided by socially responsible enterprises through democratic and participatory governance at all levels of society, collaboration among a wide variety of actors is necessary. Given the work already undertaken by La Coop des Communs and the wide variety of actors that it counts and with whom it works, we realize the importance of promoting commons with “hybrid” social and economic organizations, notably cooperatives, social enterprises, municipalities and labor organizations, in the perspective of a fair social and ecological transition. We find relevant to add research insights on all these topics.

Gathering such actors allows developing forward thinking solutions linked to legal frameworks and financial incentives that would enable commons initiatives, which cannot be properly addressed in a market logic nor in a public service logic. If the quantitative economic impact of such initiatives is often difficult to measure, its social impact on citizens and local livelyhoods are the best way to measure the impact of such initiatives. And Europe needs to address these issues to avoid populistic shifts.

One example: In this regards, we have created a European working group: Co-Communs (Commons with COoperatives, MUnicipalities and UnionS) was born through a conference in the EESC in Brussels. It has produced an analysis grid on open cooperativism and platforms, in connection with cities and territories. The encounters were appreciated by all those who participants but the initiative couldn’t continue because of the lack of means necessary to maintain the group alive. http://commonstransition.org/organizing-and-governing-the-commons-a-coop-commons-multilevel-dialogue-with-municipalities-and-labour/.

On three axes:

Common action, learning trips and participatory research could be supported on at least three topics:

- Cities and territories: How to involve different players (public, private, citizens) in the pursuit of the general interest? How to structure the organization of the city and the dialogue with citizens? How to promote initiatives/incubate projects? How to link initiatives in the digital area to real needs of local communities and reinforce solidarity mechanisms between communities?

- Future of work/employment/social protection: how to make sure that digital platforms do not simply disrupt our social protection models and labor rights? How can we support the development of platform coops (worker-owned, value and community driven) rather than capitalistic start-ups that drain communities and livelyhoods? How can we make sure the activities performed by commoners are recognized for the benefits they provide to their communities? How do we reconsider contribution to society widely and solidarities?

- Toolbox: bylaws, governance tools, data management systems, web semantic tools, quality standards for platforms, ….

On these different themes, the EU could contribute to

- Crossfertilization to provide support, prototypes or proposals of concrete transition processes and models likely to be replicated elsewhere, - Policies developments that create a favorable ecosystem for the commons (EU regulation, alliances…), - Help monitor the legislative European agenda related to topic addressed, in order to ensure our work has direct effect, - Identify and include new partners."