CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY : MEPS WANT TO MAKE BUSINESS MORE RESPONSIBLE.

• Position: Member of the European Parliament - Brief article

"The increase of social and environmental responsibility by business, linked to the principle of corporate accountability, represents an essential element of the European social model and of Europe's strategy for sustainable development," according to the Employment and Social Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, which adopted an-own initiative report by Richard Howitt (PES, UK) on corporate social responsibility (with 25:15 votes), on 19 December.

The report underlines that corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies should be promoted on their own merits, neither as a substitute for appropriate regulation in relevant fields, nor as a covert approach to introducing such legislation. Members call for the CSR debate at the European level to be "depolarised" by neither supporting exclusively voluntary nor mandatory approaches, reiterating an essentially voluntary approach based on clear social and environmental objectives and without excluding...