It is difficult to concentrate on anything in Brussels at the moment other than you-know-what. The buzz of the eurozone crisis blocks out other topics.

This gives me the opportunity to let you know what it feels like from over here to read about the UK’s discussion of the crisis in the media. The foreign secretary William Hague has described the current eurozone crisis as like a burning building without any exits. I am not sure that this is an accurate image, but let us assume for the moment that it is. So your neighbour’s house is burning and has no exits. I am in that burning house. What does it feel like when the neighbours come into the street, fold their arms and, with big smiles on their face, say: ‘Well, it serves them right. We told them not to build their house like that. They can bloody well save themselves, we’re not going to lift a finger to help. Ha, ha, ha.’

That is what I hear and it is not pleasant. It is not how good neighbours should behave. It may well be true that the house should not have been built like that, and that advice was given to do things differently. But civilised behaviour does not include gleeful triumphalism at other peoples’ doom, as the flames lick around them. At the very lowest form of self-interest, you never know when your own house is going to catch fire, and when you might therefore need the assistance of those very neighbours – who, I hope, miraculously survive the current cataclysm. If your own house catches fire, you will hope that those surviving neighbours come with assistance, or at the very least with compassion and constructive advice, and don’t stand in the street with their arms folded, saying: ‘Do you remember how they behaved when our house was on fire? Well, to hell with them!’

I exempt the top government leadership from these criticisms. They have realised the gravity of the situation, its obvious impact on the UK – the flames might spread, if not urgently put out – and have urged various fire-fighting remedies. One of the remedies has been that the eurozone members should draw closer together and harmonise their economic and fiscal arrangements to a greater extent. This is the equivalent of the construction of a fire-break. As soon as this advice was out of their mouths – oops, they realised what they had said, and tried to fight against the consequences. It is obvious that, if the 17 eurozone members first of all survive, and then draw more closely together, they will form a blocking mechanism for all future EU proposals. So, the UK government’s sensible advice leads to its permanent exclusion from core decision-making in the EU, as if the firebreak builds a new road around the neighbourhood, leaving the UK on the wrong side of the tracks. To the government’s credit, and despite its concerns for the future, it has continued to offer constructive advice.

I was going to write this week about corporate social responsibility (CSR), since the commission has issued a new communication on it. But it seems strange to talk about something like that when the entire institutional structure of the EU is threatened – or, at the very least, there are discussions about reorganising it into various speeds or zones. But I shall try to concentrate.

The EU believes that its previous ventures into CSR have been successful, leading to a greater take-up among European businesses. So the communication outlines a new agenda for action from 2011-2014, including an award scheme, a code of good practice, a peer review mechanism for national CSR policies, and so on.

But why is the commission acting now? Guess why – ‘The economic crisis and its social consequences have to some extent damaged consumer confidence and levels of trust in business. They have focused public attention on the social and ethical performance of enterprises. By renewing efforts to promote CSR now, the commission aims to create conditions favourable to sustainable growth, responsible business behaviour and durable employment generation in the medium and long term.’

The economic crisis again! You see what I mean about its buzz drowning out all else? Normal service will resume next week. In the meanwhile, I am going to the windows, flames singeing me, to watch in incredulity as our UK neighbours breach all civilised norms and point up at us and laugh, despite the danger we are in.

Jonathan Goldsmith is secretary general of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe, which represents about one million European lawyers through its member bars and law societies. He blogs weekly for the Gazette on European affairs