Corporate Social Responsibility from 2000 to the Presentand the Role of Institutional Organizations in the European Union: Emphasis on COM(2011) 681 Final

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is today an accessory to the socio-economic system. Our central theme here is the most recent Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions entitled A renewed EU strategy 2011-14 for Corporate Social Responsibility, commonly known as COM(2011) 681 final. It is true that at the institutional level the European Union has elevated CSR into a central point in entrepreneurial development and the pursuit of excellence. But what are the factors that have led to this present-day reality? We believe that there is certainly more than one factor involved in the emergence of this new reality. In our opinion the primary factor has been - and is - in some places the retreat and in others the devastation of the social state. In this context business enterprises, and first and foremost multi-national corporations, have seized the opportunity – without of course replacing the state – to display moral commitment, both domestically and to outside audiences, on the social and ecological planes. Similarly in a period of over-concentration, both of wealth and of planetary ecological threats, the emergence of the terms “corporate citizen†and “sustainable development†appears attractive from a public relations viewpoint, and indeed ethically mandatory. In such a conjuncture the European Union and the Commission find themselves assuming the role of regulator and guide of developments.