DaimlerChrysler, Siemens, Deutsche Bank and Germany's other global companies can in future expect to be scrutinised more closely on whether their pledges to behave more responsibly on social and environmental issues are borne out in reality. Frustrated with "broken promises" on such themes by companies from the world's leading export nation, a new network of 30 church groups, trade unions, consumer associations and non-governmental organisations agreed yesterday in Berlin to combine their efforts to press for higher standards of behaviour by German companies around the world...[L]eaders of the new Corporate Accountability network - the largest-ever such grouping in Germany - argued yesterday that such programmes ["glossy 'corporate social responsibility' (CSR) programmes] were sometimes little more than public relations exercises...They...argued that, rather than develop new CSR schemes, companies should focus on abiding by existing international norms.