The Romanian boycott of Austria: “It is a matter of humiliation of the Romanian people by the Austrian Government”

The Romanian boycott of Austria: “It is a matter of humiliation of the Romanian people by the Austrian Government”
The Romanian boycott of Austria: “It is a matter of humiliation of the Romanian people by the Austrian Government”
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During the protest, the owners of some large commercial companies announced that they had closed their accounts with the two banks with Austrian capital and that they would no longer buy fuel from the company in which an Austrian company is the majority shareholder. Some policemen joined the protest, but also ordinary people who gave up their booked trips to Austria, especially for skiing.

On 7,600 hectares of land, in Arad, Dimitrie Muscă transformed agriculture into an industry. He grows grain, has greenhouses heated with geothermal water, and raises over a hundred thousand pigs and cows. The meat is processed in its own slaughterhouses, it has a dairy factory and its products reach 37 stores.

40 million euros is the turnover of the companies led by the 69-year-old agronomist.

Dimitrie Muscă held some of the money and traded it through BCR, a bank owned by an Austrian financial services provider.

After the vote in the JAI Council, where Austria opposed Romania’s accession to the Schengen area, Muscă closed all the accounts he had with this financial institution.

Dimitrie Muscă: “Even if later the officials, both from the bank in Arad and Bucharest, contacted me to change my mind, that things were on the way, I didn’t want to take any measure other than closing the accounts.”

Dimitrie Muscă went even further and announced that he is ending the collaboration with OMV PETROM, where an Austrian company owns over 51 percent of the shares. From there he bought 1,500 tons of diesel every year.

Dimitrie Muscă: “I solemnly promise the Austrian gentlemen that I will not take a gram of diesel fuel.”

OMV PETROM has over 150 fuel distribution stations in Romania. At the request of PROTV News, the company said that it does not comment on customers’ decisions.

In Alba, Voicu Vușan runs one of the most important meat and sausage products companies in Romania, with almost 1,300 employees. Every month, 1,000 tons of fresh meat and another 1,500 tons of meat preparations leave for stores from his company. He also joined the boycott.

Voicu Vușan: “This is a humiliation of the Romanian people by the Austrian Government. From next week, commercial relations with Austrian banks will be interrupted, commercial relations with Austrian insurance companies will be interrupted, Austrian companies in our field of activity will be interrupted. When we are treated with respect we will return the respect.”

“We regret the result of today’s vote in the Council. A veto is the strongest position an EU member state can take in a vote. We assume that the Austrian government has weighed this step very carefully, and we respect that it must also take security concerns into account,” the BCR said on Facebook.

In a statement, the CEO of Erste Group – which owns BCR in Romania, said that the bank regrets the decision of the JAI board, but respects the fact that the Austrian government must also take into account the security concerns raised at the time of the vote – “We support Romania’s full accession to the Schengen area. We were surprised by today’s decision. We see it only as an intermediate result.”

And the CEO of Raiffeisen Bank declared that he supports Romania’s accession to the Schengen area and that he was surprised by Austria’s decision, which he sees only as an intermediate result.

Despite these reactions, several Romanian policemen also joined the boycott. Some said that they would not go to Austria any time soon, others that they would give up being clients of the banks with Austrian capital, or they urged the state companies to close the accounts they had opened with them.

There are also ordinary citizens who followed their example.

Ion Novăcescu, professor of History: “I transferred my money from the savings I had at BCR.”

The football club Universitatea Craiova has stepped up and announced that the traditional summer camp of the players will no longer take place in a mountain resort in Austria but in another European country.

Mihai Rotaru, Craiova University shareholder: “In the last 30 years, you used Romania’s resources, gas, oil… Your companies were protected in Romania, they increased their profits, and you come and return Romania’s back?”

Before the coronavirus pandemic restricted travel, more than 370 thousand Romanians visited Austria on vacation. Their accumulated overnight stays exceeded one million. Last year, there were 130 thousand Romanians visiting the country that did not want us in Schengen and, according to some estimates, they contributed 40 million euros to its economy.

“Unfortunately, due to the situation caused by the refusal of the Austrian government to accept our country in the Schengen area, I inform you that we have canceled the reservation for the next season. “Goodbye, Austria! Welcome, Italy!” – wrote Bogdan Oprea, in a message he sent to the owner of a boarding house in Kaprun, where he spent 14 skiing holidays, informing him that this year he is canceling the reservation.

“We decided that it is not appropriate that the leave, which represents the moment of reward for a year of work and the expenditure of some money you have worked for, should be done in a country that does not respect us, in some way, at the governmental level” , Bogdan also said.

Before Austria’s refusal, on December 6, half of the Romanians who participated in a sociological survey said that if we are not accepted in Schengen they would be frustrated or angry, almost 40 percent said they would stop buying Austrian products and services and 40 percent said they would refrain from visiting Austria in the future.

Reporter: ADRIAN CRĂCIUNOIU, EMANUELA BĂLUȘ, IULIA CIUHU, GINA OBREJAN, ELECTRA GHIZA, RĂZVAN DAN

Source: PROTV news

Tags: Romania, Austria, Schengen,

Publication date: 09-12-2022 18:44

The article is in Romanian

Tags: Romanian boycott Austria matter humiliation Romanian people Austrian Government

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