(see related) President Sergio Mattarella on Friday told industry association Confindustria that the bottom line cannot be used by the private sector to justify anything, stressing that predatory capitalism is forbidden by the Italian Constitution.
"Companies are at the centre of a system of values, not just economic values," the head of State told Confindustria's annual Assembly.
"You are the ones who remind me that a company's responsibilities transcend the boundaries of its women and men (employees) and its markets.
"Enterprises are vehicles for growth, innovation, training, culture, integration, multiplication of influence, soft-power factors.
"They are also agents of freedom.
"Generating wealth is a significant social function.
"It is one of the primary social responsibilities of business.
"Of course, this must not be to the detriment of other forms of wealth, individual or collective'.
"It is not robbery capitalism that the Constitution looks to when it defines the rules of the game.
"The principle is not that wealth should be concentrated, but spread.
"This model has made Italy and Europe grow".
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