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Inscoop History

It was during the validity of the first Constitution (1976) that, on December 31st 1976, Statute Law no. 902/76 created "the Instituto António Sérgio do Sector Cooperativo in Portugal, known by the abbreviation Inscoop."

At that time, the 1st Constitutional Government was in place in Portugal following the Revolution of April 25th 1974, which had ended with a period of forty years of an authoritarian regime. The cooperative movement had appeared in Portugal during the mid 19th Century, as in other European countries, and its "basilar law" emerged in 1867. During the authoritarian regime, cooperatives in Portugal faced many difficulties and underwent several changes as a result of laws and administrative regulations which restricted their autonomy enabling public powers to interfere with their internal workings. The democratic life regained in 1974 created an environment which was extremely favourable to the appearance of new cooperatives, which were not always set up with the promoter's necessary knowledge of the cooperative principles and organisation. It was this need to guide and organise this enthusiasm for the cooperative form which led to the creation of the António Sérgio Institute.

The name given to the Institute - António Sérgio (1883-1969) - pays homage to one of the most representative Portuguese thinkers of the 20th Century who "advocated cooperativism amongst us as the social institution most capable of democratically resolving the economic problem and as a highly effective school for civic training and improvement of the human condition itself" (Prof. Henrique de Barros in his speech upon taking over the Inscoop Set-Up Committee in O Instituto António Sérgio do Sector Cooperativo, p.17/18).

Inscoop forms part of the Ministério do Trabalho e da Solidariedade Social (Statute Law no. 79/2005 enacted on April 15th 2005, article 20, no. 3).