The National Road Infrastructure Administration Company (CNAIR) is the first large state company to sanction Austria for the vote given in the JHA Council, where it prevented Romania’s accession to Schengen. CNAIR has decided to close all its accounts with BCR, a member of Erste Group, Austria, one of the most important financial groups in Romania.
The Minister of Transport, Sorin Grindeanu, said on Tuesday that he was informed by CNAIR that he was going to move his accounts from BCR.
“It announced a certain intention (n.r. – to move his accounts from BCR) and I know they will do it, they also told me. It is not the only institution subordinate to the Ministry of Transport that will do this, whether we are talking about the Port of Constanta, whether we are talking about Bucharest Airport and all the others, because they found better conditions at the CEC. It is an explanation as simple as possible”, said Sorin Grindeanu.
He stated that this move would not be made quickly, but that the decision was made by all companies under the Ministry of Transport that had accounts with Austrian banks.
According to CNAIR officials themselves, the transfer will take several months. As for the decision to make this move, CNAIR claims that it is “a safety measure”.
“The statements made by the Chancellor of Austria show that Austria is an unsafe country because of migration. It is not a retaliatory measure (closing the accounts at BCR – n.r.), but it is a safety measure, to protect the money. We have the obligation to take all measures in this regard. The benefit of moving to CEC, a Romanian bank, is safety“, said Alin Șerbănescu, spokesperson of CNAIR, for HotNews.ro.
BCR reacted on Thursday, after Austria’s vote against Romania, Sergiu Manea, CEO of BCR Group, saying that the institution “Supported, supports and will continue to actively and unequivocally support Romania’s accession to Schengen”.
“We believe and invest in Romania, whether we are talking about education and financial health courses, or whether we are talking about financing more than 10,000 companies that create 600,000 jobs. We believe and invest in Romania when we support our clients’ life plans, but also when we help them make the best decisions in the context of their financial situation.”
After Austria’s decision, calls to Romanians to boycott banks and companies with Austrian capital in Romania began to appear on social networks, such messages being launched including by politicians. The football club Universitatea Craiova announced on Thursday that it will close its accounts at Raiffeisen Bank, that it will no longer supply from OMV and that it will no longer organize the summer camp in the mountains of Austria because of the “disgusting attitude of Austria”. One of the biggest businessmen from the west of the country, who is also one of the most important farmers in the country, Dimitrie Muscă, also had a quick reaction. He told Agerpres on Thursday that he ordered the closure of all his companies’ accounts at Austrian banks, as a sign of protest against Austria’s position.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer warns that a possible boycott of Austrian companies in Romania, as a response to Vienna’s refusal to accept our country’s accession to Schengen, would do more harm to Romania than to Austria, because Austrian companies bring money to the country’s budget and create jobs the work.