In March 2026, Amsterdam will elect a new city council. This is a great opportunity to shape the city’s future! Which is why on March 4th, citizens, initiatives, and politicians gathered to discuss how we can support and strengthen the community economy over the next four years. The result? The Amsterdam Cooperative Pact. A historic document with broad political support that can now provide direction for the coming years!
The evening started off strong by emphasizing the function of dialogue. The goal was to come together to develop a concrete and well-supported plan. During the dialogue, community initiatives such as housing cooperatives, energy cooperatives, and social incubators openly discussed their essential role in the city, their needs to survive and how they would be able to have a greater positive impact on Amsterdam.
At the end of the event, the parties worked towards the Amsterdam Cooperative Pact. The three pillars of this pact are:
- Recognition: the municipality is to recognize citizen initiatives, cooperatives and associations as equal partners
- Financing: the municipality is to provide structural funding
- Awarding: the municipality is to award contracts directly through procurement and land policy
The nine parties signed this pact are GroenLinks (Elisabeth IJmker), Volt (Stephan Weenk), Amsterdam VVD* (Joris Blauw), D66 (Bouke van Hilten), PvdA (Sebastiaan Timmermans), CDA (Jurriaan Limburg), PvdD (Judith Krom), SP (Angelo Delsen), De Vonk (Chris de Ploeg).
*The Amsterdam VVD signed one of the three pillars and are still in discussions about the remaining two.
All in all, this is a major step towards the community economy in Amsterdam.
Read the Amsterdam Cooperative Pact: