December 13 (SeeNews) - Agricultural production cooperative Tara Mea, a strategic supplier to the Romanian arm of German retailer Kaufland, said on Tuesday that it has decided to terminate all contracts and partnerships with Austrian companies after Vienna vetoed Romania's accession to the passport-free Schengen Area.
The decision also applies to partnerships with Austrian banks as well as fuel supply to the company's auto fleet, Tara Mea said in a press release.
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All employees and partners said that they will duplicate this approach within their families and companies, Tara Mea added.
"We feel sorry for some of the providers, but it's time to defend our country and put it above immediate financial interests and above the whims of former empires. Respect for Romania is worth more to me, today, than the turnover," Tara Mea president Florin Burculescu said.
"This is not an act of revenge, nor an emotional act. It's a serious reaction, well thought out," Burculescu added.
Also on Tuesday, Romanian transport minister Sorin Grindeanu said that institutions and companies under the ministry decided to move their accounts from Austrian banks to state-owned Romanian savings bank CEC.
"The National Road Infrastructure Administration Company has announced a certain intention to do this, and not only they. I was informed that other companies under the coordination of the ministry, such as Constanta Port and Bucharest Airports plan to move, because they found better conditions at CEC," Grindeanu said in a live streamed statement.
On December 8, Romania and Bulgaria failed to obtain the required unanimous support from all member states for their bids to join Schengen. "The regrettable and unjustified attitude of Austria in today's meeting risks affecting European unity and cohesion, which we need so much, especially in the current geopolitical context," President Klaus Iohannis said shortly after the vote.
Tara Mea was founded in 2014 and two years later became a strategic supplier to Kaufland Romania. Today, under its umbrella, some 10,000 farmers are occupied in the cultivation of vegetables and processing of milk, pork and poultry meat.
(1 euro=4.9286 lei)