Rural Europe on the move English_chapt1_6 | Page 28

CHAPTER 2
Cooperation
The spirit of cooperation has its
roots in the local tradition. Each village
of this movement, building on the supporting projects of our local
previous experiences and learning economy. With these principles the
how to avoid getting stuck in a rut. bank doubled its loans to local firms
We meet Panagiotis Tournavitis,
and farmers in just five years. Today, we
in Karditsa had its own cooperative. the director of Karditsa’s Cooperative are well known in Greece and abroad
This network of cooperatives had Bank just around the corner from as a success story. With this principle
been built after the 2nd World War in ANKA’s offices. “During the crisis”, he of trust, we give 400 loans a year to
order to cope with the poverty and explains, “we played a very significant our members and have a default rate
the shortage of food and cereals. role, only accepting deposits from of 0,2% while in Greece the average
These cooperatives played a very cooperative members and only default rate is 40%.”
significant role in the training of
farmers and in the modernisation
of agriculture. But, over the years,
“We only accepted deposits from
cooperative members and only supported
projects of our local economy.”
this wave of cooperatives became
weak, some were corrupted and
many disappeared. Karditsa’s new
experiment was born from the ashes
New energy
In the era of crisis, Karditsa’s
Cooperative Bank in cooperation with
Panagiotis Tournavitis
contribute to the effective use of cooperatives were established, aimed
bountiful biomass waste product, at innovation through cooperation
producing energy and creating in production and processing.
employment. Like Karditsa’s bank, the energy
Now, this cooperative, with cooperative has become a success
Chamber of Commerce etc) strongly more than 400 members, runs story which cooperative banks and
supported the establishment of an a unit producing wood pellets, European institutions proudly use as
Energy Cooperative Company of using the residues of the local a place for mentoring and learning
Karditsa. The idea was that this could sawmills. Farmers’ and new forestry about good practice.
other local agents (Municipalities,
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