cipating states.

Romania has consistently refused to acquiesce in Soviet proposals for
greater integration of the military forces of the Warsaw Pact states and
did not participate in the invasion of Czechoslovakia. After the
Czechoslovak invasion the Ceausescu government established a defense
council and proclaimed that foreign troops were not to enter Romania for
any purpose without prior approval of the Grand National Assembly.
During the 1968-71 period the Romanians limited their participation in
pact activities as much as possible. Rather than Romanian troops taking
part in joint maneuvers of pact forces, participation has generally been
limited to a small group of staff officers who attend the exercises as
observers.

Official Romanian views on the integration of Eastern European communist
forces under the pact were forcefully reiterated in early 1970 after the
Soviet chief of staff spoke of "combined" or "unified" pact forces.
Ceausescu responded by declaring that Romania's armed forces are not
subordinated to any authority other than "the Romanian party,
government, and Supreme National Command." Although he pledged continued
cooperation with the pact and a fulfillment of his country's
responsibilities, he asserted that no part of the party's and
government's right to command and lead the armed forces would be ceded
to any other body. In addition, Ceausescu gave emphasis to the defensive
nature of the Warsaw Pact and reiterated the Romania position on
noninterference in the internal affairs of another country.

Romanian policy toward COMECON has been cooperative in regard to
mutually advantageous trade relations with the other member states but
has consistently opposed pressures for the integration of their
economies. The Soviet Union and the more industrialized of the Eastern
European communist states have pressed for economic integration that
would include a division of labor among COMECON members and a
specialization of production. Romanian leaders, preferring to develop a
diversified national economy, have refused the role of supplier of
agricultural goods and raw materials that COMECON would have assigned to
their country.

During the mid-1960s Romania successfully reoriented a substantial share
of its trade toward the West and reduced its participation in COMECON.
Trade with the West, however, produced sizable deficits and, along with
other economic problems, including the disastrous floods of early 19