Around 2,500 German companies have joined an association promoting social diversity and political tolerance.
“Cosmopolitanism and the promotion of democracy are not cost factors, but investments in the future viability of companies,” Sylvia Pfefferkorn, the chair of Business for a Cosmopolitan Germany, said on Tuesday.
It is not just start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises that are getting involved, she said, but also large corporations and their subsidiaries such as Volkswagen and Infineon.
“Every responsible company must ask itself whether it wishes to adhere to a stable and humane set of values,” the association wrote on its website.
The alliance wants to advocate among politicians and in the media for democracy, a strong, peaceful Europe and diversity.
The association takes a particularly clear stance on immigration policy, believing the German economy needs skilled migrant workers who will remain part of society in the long term.
The alliance finds itself at odds with the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, arguing that the far-right party’s election manifestos are detrimental to the EU and to the freedom of academia and the media.
Board member Bärbel Boy says that business leaders are particularly well-placed to strengthen democratic values among their workforce because they “still have access to groups that often can no longer be reached through other channels”.
The association cites the 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer, which found that 74% of employees trust their employer. Just under half of those surveyed trusted the business sector as a whole (48%) and the media (46%), while even fewer trusted the government (42%) and NGOs (41%). The study surveyed a representative sample of 1,200 people in Germany.