Background
Following the vote on 24 April in the Employment and Social
Affairs Committee of the European Parliament (see also
EURACTIV, April
2003), the Parliament's own-initiative
report on the Commission's Communication on CSR was discussed on 13
May 2003.
In its position on the above Communication, the
Parliament welcomes the establishment of the EU Multi-Stakeholder
Forum on CSR as an autonomous group run by its members, which aims
to recognise the diversity of CSR approaches when considering how
to facilitate convergence. As regards practical proposals, the
Parliament recommends that:
- the Forum should specifically address the needs and nature of
SMEs to be considered horizontally across the work of each of the
Round Tables;
- the Round Table meetings, and especially the November 2003
Forum meeting, should be available live via webcast in the interest
of transparency and that the minutes of each Round Table should be
posted on the web as soon as signed off by the individual
rapporteurs;
- the papers presented to Round Table meetings by the Commission
be sent simultaneously to the Parliament;
- the environmental, development, enterprise and social aspects
of CSR be treated with equal emphasis.
