Speech of Mr Vladimir Špidla

Moreover, social responsibility is not a substitute for social dialogue or legislation. Health and safety at work are not a matter for voluntary initiatives of companies. The same applies to environmental protection, equal opportunities between men and women, the fight against discriminations, trade-union rights. Progress, in these fields, has always rested on a combination of instruments:  legislative, financial and voluntary.

Social responsibility initiatives have another meaning: they enable a company to go beyond the rules or beyond the practices, or to innovate. They mean that the company adopts better practices in its daily management. This is a fundamental point: social responsibility leads to improvement in the performance of the company if it changes from within and it incorporates the concept of sustainable development into its functioning.

This leads to a fundamental question: transparency. Consumers, workers, investors, media, citizens, must have verifiable and reliable information on social responsibility initiatives. This transparency is essential to ensure its credibility. One must therefore progress towards the definition of criteria and methods to check the information published by companies – independently.

Since Jacques Delors's call, a decade ago, close and fruitful links developed between the world of companies, represented here by CSR Europe, and Commission to move forward social responsibility. Progress was considerable in Europe. We passed from a debate on "why" to a much more concrete debate on "how" - how to implement the social responsibility for it to be really useful to economic and social progress?

The European Union recognised at the highest political level the positive contribution of social responsibility to a balanced combination between economic growth, sustainable development and social progress.

In this context, the European Commission supports the networks of companies which develop the transparency of their initiatives. It also encourages the consistency of national approaches, in partnership with the Member States, in order to increase the weight and the visibility of the European companies on the world market. Finally, it promotes the use of the internationally recognised standards of social responsibility, in particular in the field of company reporting and of social audit.

Social responsibility can become a tool for the promotion of a fair and shared globalisation, which ensures the progress of social and human rights. This objective is at the heart of the new social Agenda that has just been adopted by the Commission.

"Good practices" of companies, thanks to their social visibility, bring an essential contribution for the promotion of "decent work for all" and to the respect of the person's basic rights to work. The "manifesto" of the Chinese companies is therefore for me encouraging. It should be developed on the path traced ten years ago.