CSR in the European Union

standard lies in the fact that it gives a comprehensive overview of the in-terpretation of CSR, although some experts consider it to be too general and permissive.

In 2002, the European Commission’s first communication about CSR was published, the title of which also reflects the typical approach to corporate social responsibility in that period: ‘Communication from the European Commission concerning Corporate Social Responsibility: A business contri-bution to Sustainable Development’. The Communication states that some form of standardization is needed emphasizes the European Union’s efforts to promote the social responsibility of small and medium-sized enterprises and underlines that CSR should be integrated into different policies.

The RARE project—a project funded by the Sixth Framework Programme of the EU in the field of R+D, in which the Department of Environmental Economics of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics was also involved (2004–2007)—included a comprehensive analysis of European corporate social responsibility practices. In order to compare rhetoric and re-ality, the international research group analysed some selected sectors: the ex-tractive industry was represented by the oil sector, the manufacturing indus-try by the fish processing sector, and the services sector by the banking in-dustry. Furthermore, a separate part was dedicated to the specificities of the responsibility of SMEs and the impact of EU enlargement on companies’

CSR activity.²⁶⁴

In 2006, a new communication on ‘making Europe a pole of excellence on corporate social responsibility’ was published²⁶⁵. It is enough to see the title to grasp the ambitious approach of the communication, which is in line with the Lisbon objective (making Europe ‘the most competitive [...] knowledge-based economy in the world’). It implies a major change of approach, which was criticized by some NGOs: while the first communication considered CSR to be primarily an important tool for achieving sustainability, the new document focuses on its role in increasing competitiveness and employment.

In addition to emphasizing the primary role of companies, it also highlights that NGOs can also play an important role in ensuring the effectiveness of CSR. The communication explains that CSR can also contribute to sustaina-ble economic development and the achievement of the objectives of the Eu-ropean Growth and Jobs Strategy. It also addresses the need for raising

264 R. Barth and F. Wolff (eds.) (2009): Corporate Social Responsibility in Europe: Rhetoric and Realities, Edward Elgar, 384.

265 European Commission, Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council and the European Economic and Social Committee – Implementing the Partnership for Growth and Jobs: Making Europe a Pole of Excellence on Corporate Social Responsibility, COM(2006) 136 final, 2006.

awareness of CSR as well as the importance of the dissemination and pro-motion of best practices, the cooperation between Member States, consumer information, research and education. It underlines the need to strengthen the social responsibility of SMEs further and to address the international dimen-sion of CSR²⁶⁶.

In March 2006, the European Alliance for Corporate Social Responsibil-ity was established by the European Commission. In this context, Günter Verheugen, then Commission Vice-President responsible for enterprise and industry policy, said: ‘Europe needs a public climate in which entrepreneurs are appreciated not just for making good profits but also for making a fair contribution to addressing societal challenges”.²⁶⁷

Shortly afterward, the European Parliament adopted its ‘resolution of 13 March 2007 on corporate social responsibility: a new partnership’

(2006/2133) on the proposal of British MEP Richard Howitt. The Howitt report emphasizes that an EU-wide CSR regulation should take into consid-eration the significant differences between Member States (European Parlia-ment, 2007). It is promising that the resolution points out that ‘CSR should tackle new areas such as lifelong learning, the organisation of work, equal opportunities, social inclusion, sustainable development and ethics’²⁶⁸, be-cause by doing so, it has connected CSR to a number of important social policy objectives.

At the beginning of the renewed EU strategy 2011–14 for Corporate Social Responsibility, it is stated that CSR is now in the interests of enterprises, since it reduces risks, facilitates access to capital, increases stakeholders’

confidence, and it is also in the interests of society as a whole, as it can con-tribute to the priorities of the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. The document provides an evaluation of the impacts of the previous EU policy, indicating a number of positive results, e.g. a significant increase in the number of European companies using EMAS (Eco-Manage-ment and Audit) (from 3,300 in 2006 to 4,600 in 2011) or publishing sustain-ability reports according to the guidelines of GRI (from 270 in 2006 to 850 in 2011) or the number of companies that have signed up to the ten principles of the Global Compact (from 600 in 2006 to over 1900 in 2011). (However,

266 J. Szlávik (ed.) (2009): A vállalatok társadalmi felelősségvállalása [Corporate Social Responsi-bility], Complex Kiadó, 291.

267 http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-06-358_en.htm (3/11/2019)

268 European Parliament, European Parliament resolution of 13 March 2007 on corporate social re-sponsibility: a new partnership, 2006/2133(INI), 2007.

it is unclear to what extent this is due to the EU’s CSR policy and to other global processes.)

The renewed strategy also provides a new definition, which is very general and comprehensive, as it defines CSR as ‘the responsibility of enterprises for their impacts on society’. In relation to the theoretical concepts de-scribed above, we can conclude that the document reflects the approach of strategic CSR and also relies on the concept of creating shared value (CSV), since it says the following: ‘To fully meet their corporate social responsibil-ity, enterprises should have in place a process to integrate social, environ-mental, ethical, human rights and consumer concerns into their business op-erations and core strategy in close collaboration with their stakeholders, with the aim of – maximizing the creation of shared value for their owners/share-holders and for their other stakeowners/share-holders and society at large; – identifying, preventing and mitigating their possible adverse impacts.’²⁶⁹

The EU’s CSR policy, therefore, also seeks to integrate the latest scientific findings, trends and theories. Since the 2000s, it has constituted an important policy area, which covers a number of domains affecting the management of the companies’ internal and external stakeholders. It is seen as an important tool to support the EU’s strategic objectives.