Projeções do princípio da autonomia e da independência na legislação cooperativa portuguesa

The principle of autonomy and independence aims to ensure that cooperatives are controlled by their members, that the relations they establish with other private or public organizations do not lead to their exploitation, and that the inflow of capital from non members does not affect their autonomy and the democratic control. This study aims to determine whether the Portuguese cooperative law cautions each of these aspects. It can be seen that in Portugal, cooperative legislation guarantees that cooperatives are controlled by their members, even when the plural vote or investor members are exceptionally admitted, since it surrounds these figures with a set of imperative limits. Cooperatives may set up commercial companies, subsidiaries, and acquire shares in the capital of commercial companies, provided this does not affect their autonomy. The State shall stimulate the cooperative sector but cannot overseen it. The cooperative may seek sources of external financing, such as bank credit, investment securities, issuance of bonds or admission of investor members, since through imperative legal rules, it is prevented that the autonomy of the cooperative can be affected.Received: 22 May 2019Accepted: 30 September 2019Published online: : 19 December 2019