THE ISSUE OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION OF THE CITY OF ROUSSE IN THE BULGARIAN-ROMANIAN RELATIONS

Spaska Shumanova
Bulgaria

Abstract: The crisis that broke out in the Eastern Bloc in the second half of the 1980s, the foreign- and internaleconomic problems of Bulgaria and Romania, the exhaustion of the mechanisms for their practical solution, the formalization of personal contacts between Todor Zhivkov and Nicolae Ceausescu, influenced the Bulgarian and Romanian diplomacy, which prove incapable of solving the escalating environmental problem of gassing the city of Rousse. For the sake of the socialist solidarity of member-states the Warsaw Treaty Organization and the use of Todor Zhivkov as a “a link” between the USSR and Romania, the problem of the environmental pollution of Rousse by the chemical plant “Verahim” in Giurgiu has been silenced for a whole decade (1981–1991), despite the indisputably proven presence of unacceptable concentrations of chlorine ion, which is harmful to the health and life of the citizens of Rousse. The positive consequence of the bilateral political and diplomatic stalemate, in which the Bulgaria and Romania fall is the emergence of the first public protests, the announcement of the environmental problem in Rousse by the media, and the emergence of the first dissident organization in Sofia – Public Committee for Environmental Protection of the City Rousse (8 March 1988).

Keywords: Romania, Bulgaria, Eastern Bloc, Gassing, Rousse, Ecology, International Relations, Public committee for ecological protection of Rousse

THE BULGARIAN-RUMANIAN RELATIONSHIP (1944–1989) IN CONTEMPORARY BULGARIAN HISTORIOGRAPHY

Spaska Shumanova

Abstract: The relationship between Bulgaria and Rumania in the period of socialism between 1944–1989 was marked by the communist ideology and practice, the bloc division of Europe and the place of the two countries in the Eastern bloc as satellites of the USSR. In the contemporary Bulgarian historiography were examined separate issues of the bilateral political, economic and cultural relations. The occasional publications of individual studies and documents cannot build a comprehensive picture of the nature and diversity of the relations between Bulgaria and Romania in the socialistic era. The lack of a detailed case study on this issue has brought to the need for a systematic and comprehensive study.

Keywords: Romania, Bulgaria, Socialist Camp, Eastern Bloc, Policy, Economy, Culture, Historiography, Archives

BULGARIAN-ROMANIAN ECONOMIC RELATIONS (1944-1965)

Spaska Shumanova
Etudes balkaniques (Sofia) 2017 N 1

Abstract: Economic relations were an important part of the cooperation between Bulgaria and Romania in the era of socialism (1944-1989). Bulgaria and Romania signed the first stand-alone bilateral agreement to restore and develop them in 1945 without the mediation of a third party. In the latter half of the 1950s the two neighbouring countries signed the first three-year Agreement for Exchange of Goods and Payments (1954), and starting in the early 1960s their trade relations were governed by long-term (five-year) agreements, the first one of which covered the period 1961-1965.
The economic difficulties stemming from the monetary fluctuations in Romania, the postwar soaring of commodity prices, the failure of both countries to honour their commitments, as well as the unresolved transportation issues qualify the Bulgarian-Romanian trade relations as difficult. Priority went to petroleum products but Romania demonstrated total lack of interest in the Bulgaria agricultural products. The reasons for that were the similar economic profiles and Romania’s focus on the expansion of its domestic production.
The development of the bilateral economic relations was also driven by the parallel resolution of a number of practical issues: the construction of the bridge over the Danube, the arrangements on their rail and ferry connections and the settlement of the border issues.           

Keywords: Bulgaria, Romania, Socialism, Economy, Agreements