Interview news: The new Member States will bring fresh ideas and new views to the CSR debate

The concept of CSR is fairly novel in the new Member States, Bernard Giraud, Executive Director of CSR Europe tells EurActiv, adding, however, that "if we consider the major stakes for those countries, for example, how to develop sustainable management which empowers people, which enables people to develop from an environmental standpoint (...) the contribution of a corporation to the building of a dynamic and stable society is a necessity".

Mr Giraud adds that he does not believe 'CSR history' will be the same in Eastern Europe as in Western Europe. He predicts that the new Member States will "take the subject of CSR differently" and as a result, they will bring "fresh ideas and new views to the CSR debate".

Following the initial phase of awareness raising, corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the EU is now at a different stage when the focus is on "implementing and mainstreaming" in company structures. "It was a major step to make CSR well known and well spread. Now we are in a new stage, where we have to help practitioners implement CSR throughout the organisation," says Mr Giraud.

CSR Europe is a non-profit organisation, set up in 1996 by former Commission President Jacques Delors, whose objective is to help companies achieve their economic goals while placing CSR in the mainstream of business practice.

Since 1995, CSR has been an important topic on the European agenda and the upcoming institutional changes in the EU are not likely to change this, explains Mr Giraud. "I do not see any major obstacles or people opposing the idea that if Europe wants to build a dynamic economy, we will need companies that are part not only of economic but also social process," Mr Giraud adds.

The European multi-stakeholder forum, set up to brainstorm over the future approach to CSR, has proven that "the dialogue between the different components of CSR, in a way, worked," says Mr Giraud, adding that the stakeholder forum was currently working on its conclusions. "A minimum consensus would be one that allows Europe to go ahead (...) It would be already a big step forward if we could all agree on clear guiding principles for companies and organizations on how to develop and improve transparency and reporting on CSR," Mr Giraud concludes.

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