MUNICH/BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - An alliance of more than 30 large German companies - including numerous heavyweights - is taking a stand against extremism in the run-up to the European elections. The initiative "We stand for values" is calling for participation in the European elections and is launching a corresponding campaign on social media, as it announced on Tuesday. The participating companies also want to sensitize their approximately 1.7 million employees with events - even beyond the elections.

The companies are convinced "that exclusion, hatred and isolation are not compatible with our values and endanger entrepreneurial freedom and the prosperity of each individual", it said. They want to counter this with a society "without hatred, division, exclusion and racism".

The list of participants includes numerous heavyweights, from Siemens to VW, Bosch, Mercedes, Bayer, Deutsche Bahn, RWE and Deutsche Bank. The German Trade Union Confederation and the Federation of German Industries are also involved.

"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 CEO Roland Busch. "In doing so, they are dividing our society and threatening our future." His colleague from Siemens Energy, Christian Bruch, said: "Isolationism, extremism and xenophobia are poison for German exports and jobs here in Germany". We must not "give room to the fear-mongers and fall for their supposedly simple slogans", he emphasized.

The head of Deutsche Bank, Christian Sewing, warned: "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 CEO 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. And Thyssenkrupp CEO Miguel López made it clear: "Anyone who opposes European unification, international cooperation and globalization is also clearly opposing Thyssenkrupp."

The initiative did not initially specify to whom or which parties the statements on populism, right-wing extremism and hatred referred to./ruc/DP/zb