Bulgarian entrepreneurs have called on their compatriots to boycott Austrian goods and services. The industrial association AIKB in Sofia based its call on Wednesday on Austria’s opposition to the abolition of border controls at Bulgaria’s land borders. The association complains that this leads to losses running into billions.
Bulgaria, like neighboring Romania, will join the border-free Schengen area on March 31, 2024, with only its air and sea borders. It will be decided later whether land border controls will be lifted.
“Decrease in turnover, layoffs”
“If one in four people who have used Austrian goods and services no longer use them, this would lead to a quarter of these companies’ turnover falling,” AIKB boss Wassil Welew said on Wednesday.
This will not lead to the bankruptcy of these companies or to the dismissal of employees, but will encourage Austrian companies to work more actively towards a common solution, Welew said.
Several Austrian companies are active
A number of large Austrian companies operate in the southeastern EU country of Bulgaria, including EVN, Raiffeisen, OMV, Vienna Insurance Group, UNIQA, Wienerberger and Telekom Austria. There were also calls for a boycott of Austrian companies in Romania.
Source: Krone
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