Vladimir Spidla, member of the European Commission with responsibility for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, spoke yesterday at the China-EU CSR International Forum.
His remarks to the audience are as follows:
In today’s globalised economy, goods and capital, if not people, move with a speed and intensity never seen before.
China is an important player in this world economy. Its dynamism and spirit of enterprise, its history stretching back for several millennia, all these are admired the world over. This also brings with it new responsibilities in the “governance�? of the world economy. In this context, the dialogue between China and the European Union is vital, which is why this Chinese/European Forum is a symbolic and important event. I would like to thank CSR-Europe for having co-organised it with WTO Tribune and for having invited me.
Consumers around the world are watching Chinese companies as they assert themselves day by day as forces to be reckoned with, and they are observing the conduct of European companies.
They want to be competitive, while meeting the growing demands of consumers and of the community of those involved in the territories where they produce and sell their products.
These demands are increasingly being met, and no European company can afford to ignore them: respect for the environment and the promotion of sustainable development; respect for the fundamental rights of the person at work and essential civil liberties, as stated in the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work adopted in 1998; protection of human health; respect for cultural diversity; promotion of fair trade with the least developed countries.
Whilst our fellow citizens often feel that the fruits of globalisation are being shared unequally, at home and around the world, companies’ voluntary initiatives are very important.
For this reason, “corporate social responsibility�? has had an important part to play in the European political debate which is now a decade old. I am pleased to see that certain Chinese companies have just launched a manifesto showing that we are advancing, step-by-step, towards a real world community which will not solely be one of States but also of companies, social partners and individuals.
I would like to say a few words about the principles that guide the European approach to social responsibility.
Firstly, social responsibility is neither philanthropy nor a public relations exercise. It is not about companies seeking good publicity for gimmicks, but rather the conducting of real long-term policy.
In the past, companies answered only to their shareholders. Now they must answer to all their stakeholders, growing in harmony with the world around them, building mutually beneficial relations with all those who give them life – their workers, suppliers, customers, the local population.
Neither is corporate social responsibility a substitute for social dialogue or legislation. Health and safety at work cannot be left to voluntary initiatives in industry. The same applies to protecting the environment, equal opportunities for men and women, combating discrimination, trade union law. Progress in these areas has always been based on a combination of legislative, financial and voluntary instruments.
Social responsibility has another point: it allows companies to move beyond rules or conventions, to innovate. It means adopting better practices in day-to-day management. This is a fundamental point: social responsibility leads to improved performance if companies change from the inside out and integrate the concept of sustainable development into their way of working.
This leads to a fundamental point: transparency. Consumers, workers, investors, the media and citizens must have accurate, verifiable information available on social responsibility initiatives. This transparency is vital to ensure credibility. We must therefore make progress in the definition of the criteria and methods for verifying the information published by companies – by independent parties.
Since Jacques Delors called for it a decade ago, close, mutually beneficial links have developed between industry, represented here by CSR Europe, and the Commission, in order to push social responsibility forward. Great progress has been made in Europe. We have moved on from a debate on the “why�? to a more concrete debate on the “how�? – how can social responsibility be implemented so that it really supports economic and social progress?
The European Union has recognised at the highest political level the contribution of social responsibility to a balanced mix of economic growth, sustainable development and social progress.
In this context, the Commission supports networks of enterprises in their contribution to the transparency of initiatives. It also encourages consistency between the national approaches, in partnership with the Member States, in order to increase the weight and visibility of European companies on the world market. Finally, it promotes the use of internationally recognised standards of social responsibility, in particular the company report and the social audit.
Social responsibility has the potential to become a tool for promoting a fair, shared form of globalisation accompanied by better social and human rights. This objective is at the heart of the new social agenda that I have recently had adopted by the Commission.
Good practices in industry, thanks to their social visibility, make an essential contribution to promoting decent work for all and the respect for the fundamental rights of people at work. The Chinese companies’ manifesto is therefore an encouragement to me to pursue the route on which we embarked ten years ago.
