CSR Euro­pe: European Soli­da­ri­ty & Action Nee­ded to Boun­ce For­ward

The coro­na­vi­rus (COVID-19) is chan­ging our world and affec­ting peop­le and their com­mu­nities pro­found­ly. The peop­le in care and other essen­ti­al sec­tors are giving the best of them­sel­ves and deser­ve our full gra­ti­tu­de and sup­port. Befo­re COVID-19 it would have been hard to ima­gi­ne busi­nes­ses retoo­ling their pro­duc­tion to sup­port health sys­tems by pro­vi­ding them with saniti­zing gels, pro­tec­tive masks, and life-sup­port machi­nes. Befo­re COVID-19 it would have been hard to belie­ve that com­pa­nies would have gran­ted free access to their resour­ces and know-how to limit the spread of a dead­ly virus. Now, amidst a health pan­de­mic, busi­nes­ses are adap­ting their busi­ness models to do their part in con­tai­ning the spread of the virus. Each effort mat­ters and it is making a dif­fe­rence. Howe­ver, COVID-19 is posing an unpre­ce­den­ted cross-bor­der chal­len­ge and com­pa­nies are batt­ling to keep their peop­le on board and to pro­vi­de added value to the com­mu­nities in which they ope­ra­te.

Day by day COVID-19 is tea­ching us that unless we coope­ra­te, we can­not move for­ward again towards a more sustainab­le busi­ness that is good both for the envi­ron­ment and cli­ma­te, the peop­le and the eco­no­my. Busi­nes­ses must take care of their employees and their fami­lies, custo­mers, sup­pliers and com­mu­nities world­wi­de if they want to sur­vi­ve and thri­ve. Only by working tog­e­ther we can crea­te a bet­ter Euro­pe, one which has sustai­na­bi­li­ty, cli­ma­te action, and inclu­si­veness at its core. Under­pin­ned by the rule of law, trust and empa­thy are essen­ti­al to fos­ter the coope­ra­ti­on necessa­ry to build a bet­ter future. Our mem­ber com­pa­nies – main­ly inter­na­tio­nal busi­nes­ses – are con­fron­ting a wide varie­ty of COVID-19-rela­ted issu­es and they look also towards the European Uni­on to boost inter­na­tio­nal trust, soli­da­ri­ty and coor­di­na­ted action in Euro­pe.

The actions by busi­ness lea­ders need to be matched by European soli­da­ri­ty at insti­tu­tio­nal level. Only this way it will pos­si­ble to yield the mul­ti­di­men­sio­nal, coor­di­na­ted, swift respon­se nee­ded to over­co­me this health cri­sis and to “Build Back Bet­ter”. As no indi­vi­du­al coun­try can do this alo­ne, the European Uni­on needs to step up its efforts through decisi­ve actions and mea­su­res.