Brussels, 07/02/2013 (Agence Europe) - Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a principle that is in vogue and the European Parliament, with the adoption of two resolutions during the plenary session in Strasbourg on Wednesday 6 February, would like to encourage it - through not only binding but also voluntary measures. Although one of the resolutions places more emphasis on the first category of measures, the other hopes to avoid additional administrative charges for the private sector at all cost. In both cases, however, the objective remains the same, namely that of giving a concrete, tangible and operational form to the societal dimension of corporate activity.
The Parliament position on CSR is very similar to the Commission's current approach. Although the two resolutions highlight this point and say they expect concrete proposals, the author of the resolution entitled “Corporate social responsibility: promoting society's interests and a route to sustainable and inclusive recovery”, Richard Howitt (S&D, UK) nonetheless reproaches the Commission for having “nearly dropped” its “commitment to the CSR communication published a year ago”. Howitt feels this can be explained by the fact that it “wrongly sees corporate responsibility as a cost to business, when in reality it is a route out of the crisis”.
For a long while, there has been division among political decision-makers when it comes to promoting CSR or compelling companies to be more responsible regarding societal challenges (a notion that also includes action against the impact of the crisis, sustainable development, sustainable economic and social prosperity, as well as protection for the environment and fundamental rights). This was implicit in the speeches of members of the S&D Group and the European People's Party (EPP). Howitt has said he is “confident that, if the proposed EU law is based on reporting integrated in financial accounting and not additional to it, it will prompt the 'scaling up' of responsible business that business leaders themselves say they want”.
Such an approach is not rejected by the other groups, as the resolution was adopted by a very large majority. However, Raffaele Baldassarre (EPP, Italy), who drafted the second resolution entitled “Corporate social responsibility: accountable, transparent and responsible business behaviour and sustainable growth”, placed more emphasis on the need to “ensure that CSR remains primarily a voluntary policy”. Nonetheless, he does not rule out the possibility that the Commission might put forward binding measures at a later date, and that those measures should allow companies considerable flexibility of action. The ALDE Group was more intransigent over this issue. Nadja Hirsch (ALDE, Germany) said: “The fundamental principle of CSR is its voluntary character, which is why we strongly opposed legislation in this domain”. (JK/transl.jl)