Exclusive video of Mr Michel Barnier, European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services at the ALFI Responsible Investing conference

In his message commissioner Barnier talked about the EU initiatives and legislative priorities in the area of responsible investing. He affirmed his conviction that social businesses are essential for a more responsible and sustainable growth model and that getting the regulatory environment right is not enough.

“At a European level we play our part in social entrepreneurship. Social businesses create thousands of jobs in the EU every year. They have a proven track record in innovation and they actively contribute to the green economy”

During his speech commissioner Barnier highlighted various EU initiatives including:

• The European passport for social entrepreneurship fund, which was introduced in March 2013
• The European fund for social entrepreneurship
• The proposal for non financial reporting: Requiring companies to put in place a policy to report their social and environmental work to shareholders.

Finally commissioner Barnier called on the audience of 170 major financial players to play their part in making sure that the financial sector is safer and more robust, and to put the finance “at the service of the real economy”.