Declaration for the citizens of Europe

AIM published its declaration titled Brands for Health and Welfare, signed by the heads of 50 European FMCG companies on 31. March. Two members of the Hungarian Brands Association, Friesland Foods and Univer were among the signatories. Our organisation has been a member of AIM for over ten years. AIM represents 2 million employees and 1,800 companies with annual revenues of EUR 350 billion. Internet was the buzz word around the turn of the millennium. This was the time when the leshop.ch online store was presented as a possible magic solution for the FMCG sector, a revolutionary, new means of reaching consumers. Though technology has stayed in focus in subsequent years, attention turned to RFID and ECR. In 2004, the key words had been concentration and private label, while in 2006, brand building and competitiveness were the priority. During the past few years, green topics like sustainable growth, climate change, or ecological impact have been on top of our agenda. Th industry has become far more receptive to social issues and has begun to adapt a responsible attitude towards problems like ageing, obesity, and lifestyle. Today, we are seeing a double climate change, one in the atmosphere, the other in the business environment. The population of Europe is getting old and faces increasingly tough health problems. These have serious social and economic consequences. If we succeed in improving our health, this will improve our competitiveness as well. In 2005, it has already been declared by the Council of Ministers that Healthy Life Years is a basic indicator of competitiveness. EU officials have been looking for allies to co-operate with in fighting health and age problems ever since. As a result, leading FMCG companies have established a common platform against obesity and an inactive lifestyle (this is TÉT in Hungary). Two years ago, Robert Madelin from the EU commission was invited to the board meeting of AIM. It was decided at this meeting that leading brand manufacturers would join forces to do something about improving the quality of life for their consumers. As a result of this decision, the Henley report has been prepared, which contains the best practices of 50 companies in the area of health and welfare programs. A Declaration has also been agreed on, whereby the signatories undertake to regard improving the quality of life as a priority in all their business activities. There were three straightforward reasons for working out the Declaration: what is good for the consumer is good for business as well, the EU Commission asked for help from the industry and the industry wants to help, initiatives like this can keep the dialogue between the political and the business spheres on a positive track. The FMCG industry wants to avoid conflicts with politicians who show increasing activity in the protection of consumers’ interest.