Area Handbook For Bulgaria Part 21

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the administrative arm of the government in the execution of foreign policy directives, decrees, and decisions of the BKP and in representing the country abroad in emba.s.sies, legations, and consular offices. The ministry, in the prosecution of its duties and functions, employs a minister, two first deputy ministers, four deputy ministers, and a secretary general, who are a.s.sisted by the heads of eight geographic departments. In 1973 these departments were designated to handle affairs with the Soviet Union, other socialist states, the Balkans, Western Europe, Asia, the Arab-bloc countries, sub-Saharan Africa, and the Americas.

The functional departments include: administrative, consular, political, research and planning, cultural, doc.u.mentation and archives, economic, finance and accounting, international organization, inspectors, personnel, press and cultural affairs, protocol, and legal. A committee for church affairs and a diplomatic service bureau, although not cla.s.sified as regular departments, function as such. Also included is the position of disarmament negotiator.

The Ministry of Foreign Trade functions under the direction and supervision of a minister, a first deputy minister, and six deputy ministers, who are almost always high-ranking members of the BKP. The ministry itself is organized into thirteen geographic offices and seven departments. The different geographic offices handle trade agreements with the Soviet Union, other socialist countries, developed capitalist countries, Asia and Latin America, and the Arab and African countries.

Other offices include foreign exchange planning and accounting, coordination, leadership and control of foreign trade organizations, currency and finance, economic planning, market conditions, planning, and personnel. There are departments for statistics, secretariat and protocol, legal and departmental arbitration, accounting and auditing, administration, labor and wages, and control inspectorate.

Additionally, there are offices and sections not falling under any specific category but existing independently. They are: an office for a trade fair director general, trade representatives, a foreign trade research inst.i.tute, and a state inspection on the quality of goods for export.

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

Relations with Communist Countries

Bulgaria's foreign policy and foreign trade are circ.u.mscribed to a great extent within the alliances formed by the Soviet Union and the communist countries of Eastern Europe. In the early 1970s this tightly knit, although polycentric, group continued to expect and did receive Bulgaria's partic.i.p.ation in preserving the status quo in Eastern Europe.

As is the case with other Eastern European countries, Bulgaria wants Western technology and also would like to attract more Western tourists to increase its hard currency intake. Bulgaria's motive for attracting the West is economic rather than ideological. It is accepted within the socialist alliances that the principle of proletarian internationalism does not preclude diversity of trading partners of the individual member countries.

Soviet Union

Bulgarian relations with the Soviet Union have been described as subservient, and Zhivkov once acknowledged that he was "known for being bound to the Soviet Union in life and death." In 1948 Bulgaria entered into the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Aid with the Soviet Union, which was renewed for another twenty years on May 12, 1967, and over the years the close alignment between the two countries has taken on greater importance. Ideologically, it is well known that Bulgaria is a loyal partner within the Soviet-dominated socialist group.

Its leaders have been schooled in Marxism-Leninism and usually look to the Soviet Union for leadership.

Economically, Bulgaria still looks to the Soviet Union for foreign aid and preferential trade treatment. The rapid pace with which Bulgaria has moved toward industrialization is primarily owing to Soviet a.s.sistance.

Raw materials critical to Bulgaria's economy are supplied by the Soviet Union and, with Soviet aid, the country has been able to construct many large industrial enterprises. Estimates in 1967 put the number of Soviet specialists in Bulgaria at 5,000, and the number has probably increased.

The renewal of a five-year agreement for 1971 through 1975 would serve to increase further the Soviet share of trade in Bulgaria.

Relations with Other Communist States

Bulgaria's relations with Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania are largely governed by a series of bilateral and multilateral treaties of friendship and cultural cooperation and by military and economic alliances. The alliances are the Warsaw Pact and COMECON. Relations with the other two communist states of Eastern Europe, Albania and Yugoslavia, have usually followed Soviet initiatives toward those countries.

Quite naturally, Bulgaria's major concerns in foreign affairs have dealt with relations among the states of the Balkan Peninsula and particularly with adjacent states. Romania, its northern neighbor, is a member of COMECON and the Warsaw Pact but has often appeared to be a reluctant member and since the early 1960s has stressed nationalism rather than Marxist internationalism, causing Bulgaria, with its strong Soviet orientation, to tread lightly in bilateral relations for fear of offending the Soviets. Nevertheless, the Bulgarians and Romanians have drawn closer together, probably because both countries see benefits that might accrue from Balkan cooperation and believe that such cooperation should in no way disturb the Soviet Union. In the early 1970s relations appeared to be particularly good: there were frequent meetings between leaders and government ministers, and a plan to cooperate in the building of a huge hydroelectric project on the Danube River between the two countries was announced.

Relations with Yugoslavia have more often than not been troubled to the point of enmity. The problems existing between these two countries have deep historical roots that hinge primarily on the Bulgarian contention that Macedonia (since 1946 a federated republic of Yugoslavia) should be Bulgarian rather than Yugoslavian. After World War II, when both countries became communist, the Macedonian question was purposely deemphasized but, when the Soviet-Yugoslav split occurred in 1948, ideological differences paved the way for a renewal of the polemics on the Bulgarian irredentist claims. In the early 1970s the polemics were reduced to a minor level, and constructive talks leading to a rapprochement began to occur. The changed atmosphere was attributed to the state of relations between the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia but, for whatever reason, the climate of relations between Bulgaria and its western neighbor was considerably improved, and Bulgarian irredentism was submerged.

Relations with Noncommunist States

The European Conference for Security and Cooperation held in Helsinki in the spring of 1973 discussed the possibility of a freer exchange of people and ideas as well as a freer flow of information between Western European and Eastern European societies. The intensity of ideological polemics had diminished with increasing contacts between East and West, and the gap between the two social systems seemed narrower, especially in regard to economic planning and development. Bulgaria, however, publicly expressed doubts about importing anti-communist theories that might accompany the freer exchanges of people, ideas, and information.

In a plenum of the Central Committee of the Bulgarian Communist Party in July 1973, the party leaders touched on issues of international relations. The leaders pledged to continue a new policy of building goodwill and enhancing relations with noncommunist European states as well as with other developed capitalist states in all aspects of political, economic, cultural, and other relations. Bulgaria also sought to continue cultivating and developing friendly relations with nonaligned friendly countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

Consistent with this policy, it pledged to render a.s.sistance to these countries, especially where there were national liberation movements involved in active resistance to the established regimes.

Greece and Turkey

Greece is geographically contiguous to Bulgaria, and relations between the two countries have been alternately hot and cold depending on the political climate of the times. In 1964 both countries signed an accord relative to war reparations, which opened up some channels of communication, cultural exchanges, and relaxed travel restrictions. The move toward better relations was interrupted by the 1967 coup d'etat in Greece, but improvement began again in the early 1970s when officials of the two governments exchanged visits. By 1972 a newly created Bulgarian-Greek economic cooperation commission had met in Sofia.

Difficulties between Bulgaria and Turkey have deep roots in history and also involve the 750,000 ethnic Turks still residing in Bulgaria (see ch. 2; ch. 4). An atmosphere of cordiality, however, had been developing slowly as the officials of both countries cautiously negotiated to reduce tensions between the two countries. Exchanges of high-level visits and the signing of various economic agreements had stabilized Bulgarian-Turkish relations by the early 1970s. The hijacking of two Turkish planes to Sofia in 1972 disturbed the detente temporarily, but the Bulgarian foreign minister went quickly to Turkey to make amends. In 1973 the two countries again enjoyed improved relations.

The United States

The tensions that marked Bulgarian-United States foreign relations in the 1950s eased somewhat in the 1960s. The legations of both countries were raised to emba.s.sy status in November 1966. This action was believed to be an offshoot of United States efforts, particularly that of President Lyndon B. Johnson, to "build bridges" to Eastern Europe. This resumption of diplomatic goodwill was not pursued vigorously and, at the time, reception to the idea in Bulgaria was generally cool. A noted communist theoretician regarded the United States overtures as a divisive force in the fraternal world of the communist movement, designed ultimately to bring in a capitalist system inimical to the ideological interest of any socialist country.

In 1973 the relations between the two countries were, however, cordial.

Observers noted an increase in trade, although it was still quant.i.tatively small and accounted for only between US$6 million and US$7 million annually. Bulgaria hoped to increase this volume to US$30 million, especially by exporting high-quality tobacco to the United States market.

Bulgaria has been seeking a consular agreement that would grant it most-favored-nation tariff treatment in order to keep Bulgarian exports on a compet.i.tive level with others in the United States market. Toward this end, a Bulgarian trade delegation visited the United States in mid-July 1973 to exchange views on expanded trade and economic relations between the two countries. While in Washington the delegation met with top officials from the Department of State, the Department of Commerce, the Department of the Treasury, and the Export-Import Bank and with some members of Congress.

West Germany

The two world wars saw Bulgaria fighting on Germany's side. Thereafter Bulgarian policy differed from the Soviet line only once in a case that involved relations between Bulgaria and the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany). When Chancellor Ludwig Erhard sounded out several Eastern European governments with peace notes in 1966, Bulgaria along with Romania did not publish official replies. Later that year West German officials met with the Bulgarian foreign minister, and it appeared that normalization of relations was in the offing. The negotiations did not come to fruition, however, and Bulgaria fell back in line with the Soviet Union, which at the time was hostile to West Germany. The mere fact that Bulgaria partic.i.p.ated in such independent talks appeared remarkable to some observers.

During 1972 relations between Bulgaria and West Germany improved. Some of the reasons attributed to this changing tack included the ratification of treaties negotiated between West Germany, Poland, and the Soviet Union; the opening of diplomatic channels between Poland and West Germany; and the meetings of amba.s.sadors of European countries in Helsinki. Most important, however, was the signing of a basic treaty that established and regulated relations between West and East Germany, a condition set by Bulgaria before diplomatic relations could be resumed with West Germany. The open advocacy of the Soviet Union for improved relations with West Germany also encouraged Bulgaria to expedite the resumption of diplomatic communications.

Other Western Countries

The mid-1960s saw party chief Zhivkov "building bridges" himself with other Western countries. In light of Bulgaria's interest in expansion of trade, relations with France were improved with reciprocal visits in 1966 between Zhivkov and Foreign Minister Maurice Couve de Murville.

Also in the same year, partly as a result of these negotiations, the French car manufacturer, Renault, established an a.s.sembly plant in Bulgaria. Simultaneous with this move was the establishment of a diplomatic mission in Canada. Agreements were negotiated with Belgium and Italy on cultural, technical, and economic matters. Australia also had a share of Bulgaria's trade attention; both countries signed a long-term trade agreement in 1972, and an agreement was reached to establish diplomatic relations at the emba.s.sy level.

Relations with Other States

Bulgarian interest in trade with the developing countries has increased considerably. In 1971 and 1972 the volume of trade with third world countries exceeded 316 million leva (for value of the lev--see Glossary) as opposed to 113.3 million leva in 1965. The Arab countries rank first in the amount of business conducted with Bulgaria. A considerable number of Bulgarian experts are also engaged in the construction of industrial enterprises in various developing countries.

MEMBERSHIP IN REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

Regional Cooperation

Military cooperation on a regional basis was secured for Bulgaria and its allies (the Soviet Union, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Czechoslovakia) in a multilateral alliance known as the Warsaw Pact.

Albania, an original member, withdrew in 1968 (see ch. 16). Signed on May 14, 1955, in Warsaw, Poland, the pact was and remains Eastern Europe's answer to the challenges and security arrangements of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). In one sense it seemed to provide legal grounds for the Soviet Union to keep its troops in east-central Europe as well as to secure the balance of military power in Europe, especially after West Germany joined NATO. In another sense it confirmed the Soviet Union's political and military hegemony in all of Eastern Europe.

The organization has two main bodies--the Political Consultative Committee, which recommends general questions of foreign policy for member countries, and the High Command of United Armed Forces, which prepares military plans in time of war and decides troop deployments.

Both bodies are located in Moscow, and all its senior ranking officials are Russians.

Bulgaria has bilateral treaties of mutual aid with each other member of the Warsaw Pact. A multilateral agreement binds all the members to one another in general and to the Soviet Union in particular. Within Bulgaria Soviet officers serve as advisers at the division level and formerly served down to the regiment level. Others serve as instructors.

Bulgaria was a charter member of COMECON in 1949. An economic alliance among Eastern European countries, COMECON is the counterpart to Western Europe's European Economic Community (commonly called the Common Market). Other members are the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and East Germany. Mongolia and Cuba, non-European countries, joined in June 1962 and July 1972, respectively. Albania joined in 1949 but withdrew in 1961.

Founded as an outlet for agricultural and industrial products and as a capital-and-labor market, COMECON, like the Warsaw Pact, binds its members to each other and all of them to the Soviet Union. Long-term trade agreements of five years are usually renewable at the end of each term. It is estimated that 60 to 65 percent of the total foreign trade of each signatory is carried on with other member countries. One of the obvious disadvantages of the organization, however, is the absence of a common market. Trade and commerce between the member countries are carried out on the basis of preference and within the framework of bilateral agreements.

Because the loose structure of COMECON does not make for effective regional planning, member countries such as Bulgaria continue to renew bilateral trade agreements within COMECON. The Soviet Union remains Bulgaria's largest foreign market, accounting for more than 50 percent of Bulgarian trade. Bulgaria also agreed to send Bulgarian workers to the Soviet Union for heavy industrial projects.

Partic.i.p.ation of Bulgaria on a regional level has been confined to a few projects. Among these are a COMECON electric power grid, which serves the western Ukraine, especially the city of Kiev; a Romanian-Bulgarian project to construct a power dam and navigation system for sixty miles along the Danube River; a system of high-speed expressways to connect the capital cities of member countries; a project to modernize steel industries and to reduce production and delivery time; and membership in the International Bank for Economic Cooperation, headed by a former deputy chairman of the Soviet State Bank.