O QUADRO JURÍDICO-CONSTITUCIONAL DO COOPERATIVISMO EM PORTUGAL

Abstract

In Portugal, the cooperatives enjoy a separate legal consideration by the Portuguese Constitution, which devotes them more than a dozen items scattered throughout the text, although linked to each other by a set of key principles, as the principle of coexistence of three sectors (public, private, and cooperative and social), the principle of freedom of cooperative initiative, the principle of protection of the cooperative and social sectors, the principle of state's obligation to encourage and support the creation of cooperatives, and the principle of compliance with the ICA cooperative principles.