The largest companies in Germany on Tuesday announced their collaboration in a coalition aimed at campaigning against extremism in the run-up to the crucial EU Parliament elections, during which the far-right is anticipated to make strong gains.
The alliance of 30 companies includes blue-chip groups like BMW, Volkswagen, Siemens, BASF and Deutsche Bank, as well as family-owned businesses and startups.
"Exclusion, extremism and populism pose threats to Germany as a business location and to our prosperity," said the alliance in a statement.
"In their first joint campaign, the companies are calling on their combined 1.7 million employees to take part in the upcoming European elections and engaging in numerous activities to highlight the importance of European unity for prosperity, growth and jobs," it added.
The unusual action by the industrial giants came as the latest opinion polls show the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party obtaining about 15% of the EU vote next month in Germany. The party is tied in second place with the Greens after the conservative CDU-CSU alliance.
A series of recent scandals, including the arrest of a researcher working for an AfD member of parliament, have slid the party's popularity since the turn of the year, even though it remains just ahead of Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats.
The list of participants also includes multinational companies such as Bosch, Mercedes, Bayer, Deutsche Bahn and RWE. The German Trade Union Confederation and the Federation of German Industries are also involved.
Already struggling with severe shortages in skilled workers, many German enterprises fear gains by the far right could further erode the attractiveness of Europe's biggest economy to migrant labor.
The alliance estimates that fast-aging Germany currently already has 1.73 million unfilled positions, while an additional 200,000 to 400,000 workers would be necessary annually in coming years.
Wolf-Dieter Adlhoch, chief executive of the Dussmann Group, noted that 68,000 people from over 100 nations work in the family business.
"For many of them, their work with us, for example, in cleaning buildings or geriatric care, is their entry into the primary labor market and, therefore, the key to successful integration. Hate and exclusion have no place here," he said.
"Our alliance stands for respect, tolerance, openness and diversity. Extremists and racists question these values and at the same time offer seemingly simple solutions to the complex problems of our time," said Siemens chief executive Roland Busch.
"In doing so, they are dividing our society and threatening our future."
The initiative did not initially specify to whom or to which parties the statements on populism, right-wing extremism and hatred referred.
The elections to the European Parliament will take place across the 27 EU member states on June 6-9.
Siemens Energy CEO Christian Bruch warned that "isolationism, extremism and xenophobia are poison for German exports and jobs here in Germany – we must, therefore, not give space to the fearmongers and fall for their supposedly simple solutions."
The alliance said it plans a social media campaign to emphasize the need to fight extremism and urged other companies to join its initiative.
It added that the campaign will continue after the EU elections, with three eastern German states to vote for regional parliaments in September.
In all three – Brandenburg, Thuringia and Saxony – the far-right AfD party is leading surveys.
The head of Deutsche Bank, Christian Sewing, said: "Even investors, who value Germany precisely because of our strong democratic values, are looking at the developments with concern and are hesitant to invest."
BMW's chief executive, Oliver Zipse, emphasized the importance of Europe for his company. "Our success also depends very much on trade relations within the European Union," he said.
