Schengen rejection: Austrian businesses in Romania face boycott calls

Various voices in Romania have been calling for a boycott of Austrian businesses after Vienna's decision to block the country's accession to Schengen. Liberal MEP Rareş Bogdan was among the first to make such a call, while local businessmen and even a top football club decided to stop working with Austrian banks or Austrian-controlled companies.

Universitatea Craiova professional football club released a statement after the December 8 vote that kept Romania out of Schengen, titled "Total boycott of Austrian partner companies." In the release, it said that, as of this month, it would move its accounts from the Austrian-owned lender Raiffeisen Bank and no longer use OMV-Petrom stations to fuel its fleet. At the same time, starting next year, their traditional summer camp will no longer take place in a mountain resort in Austria but in another European country that has similar training conditions.

"From our point of view, these companies, but not only them, are part of the absurd and discriminatory policy towards Romanians and Romania, promoted by the Austrian state these days," the football club said, adding that it hopes the entire Romanian football community will join its initiative.

Meanwhile, local businessman Dimitrie Muscă, also one of the most important farmers in the country, told Agerpres that he decided to close his firms' accounts at Austrian-owned banks. "I believe that Romanians must now be united and do the same. I don't want to work with Austrian banks ever again. In addition, I no longer buy diesel from Austrian companies," he said, according to G4media.ro.

A similar move was announced by Voicu Vușcan, administrator of Elit SRL, a major player in the industry of meat processing. He said on social media that he would stop working with Austrian-controlled companies if Austria vetoes Romania's accession to Schengen. "In Schengen or outside of it, for most of us, it doesn't matter much, it doesn't change our lives in any way, but if we feel proud to be Romanians, it's time to turn the page and hit back with the weapons we have," he wrote in a Facebook post.

From the political world, the strongest voice calling for a boycott of Austrian businesses was MEP Rareş Bogdan. In an intervention at the local news channel