Abstract
On 1 May 2024, Poland celebrated 20 years of membership in the European Union. Poland has a long tradition of cooperatives and additionally is a country where agriculture is of great importance, with over 1 million farms, and the Common Agricultural Policy is one of the most important EU policies. The aim of this article is to determine whether and to what extent Poland's 20 years of membership in the European Union and EU law have influenced the legal regulations governing the establishment and operation of cooperatives in Poland. The article refers to the principles of cooperatives and the values and principles of the European Union, a brief history of cooperatives in Poland, and then focuses on the impact of Poland's EU membership, legislation and policies on the activities of various types of cooperatives, such as agricultural production cooperatives, dairy cooperatives, agricultural producer cooperative groups, agricultural producer cooperative organisations, social cooperatives and renewable energy cooperatives. In conclusion, the author states that Poland's EU membership has contributed to the development of cooperatives in Poland, e.g Cooperative groups and organisations of agricultural producers were established; regulations concerning European cooperatives have been introduced, greater involvement of types of cooperatives in renewable energy production; EU funds contributed to the modernisation of housing cooperatives; and dairy cooperatives also experienced growth. On the one hand, cooperatives are part of the implementation of the objectives of the CAP and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. On the other hand, cooperatives are subject to increasing obligations related to environmental protection and energy efficiency, including investments in renewable energy sources and, in the future, some ot them ESG reporting, i.e. reporting on sustainable development.