Mattarella: 'Italy is growing today, the rating agencies take note'. Marina Berlusconi appointed Knight of the Republic

"Italy has returned to growth. If we look at the last five years, the national GDP has increased in percentage terms more than those of France and Germany. Employment is growing, and so are permanent employment contracts'. This was said by the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, receiving at the Quirinale the Knights and the Alfieri del lavoro. "The data of Bankitalia certify a leap of our country: the net foreign position, in June of this year, was creditworthy for about 225 billion euro. An enormous size: 10.5% of GDP. Unreasonable not to be noticed by the rating agencies when assessing the prospects and reliability of the Italian economy'.

"Italy," continued the Head of State, "is second to none if - as of 2021 - there were 13.4 robots per thousand employees in factories, compared to 12.6 in Germany and 9.2 in France. It is necessary to persevere in foresight, with the courage to design tomorrow. Tomorrow, not just the present'.

The President of the Republic emphasised that 'the credibility of institutions depends on participation and the sharing of a decent standard of living. Because sustainability is not only the indispensable goal of climate neutrality. Sustainability also means working to prevent transformations in the production and consumption model from creating deep fractures in the social fabric, ready to be transferred to the civil fabric of the community. It is the issue of a new welfare that knows how to confirm the universality of the social rights affirmed by the Constitution'.

'Work,' Mattarella recalled, 'is a powerful instrument of integration and I am thinking of the many immigrants and the needs of the productive world. Businesses can bring consistency on this terrain, which is often prey to irrational fears if not excited phobias'.

"The appointment as Cavaliere del Lavoro is a great honour, for which I would like to express all my gratitude to President Mattarella and the Council of the Order of Merit for Labour". This is what Fininvest president Marina Berlusconi underlined as she entered the Quirinale on the occasion of her appointment as Cavaliere del Lavoro. "I dedicate this recognition to my father, who received the same title in 1977. Silvio Berlusconi will forever remain 'il Cavaliere',' Marina Berlusconi added. More than forty years have passed, but I remember as if it were yesterday that day in Rome when my mother, my brother Pier Silvio and I accompanied him to the ceremony for this honour: I was a child, and that moment will remain in my heart forever'. "I would also like to add that this title is not just mine, it also belongs to all the people who work in the Mondadori Group and more generally in Mediaset and the entire Fininvest Group. This knighthood is also for them and I would like to share it with them, because it is a recognition of their commitment, their energy, their passion," Marina Berlusconi concluded.