the Council of Ministers.

At its first session after general elections the National Assembly
elects the State Council, but it would be highly unlikely if not
impossible for the assembly to refuse to elect the complete slate of
nominees that has been preselected by the party hierarchy. The election
of the State Council, therefore, as is the case with various party
elections, is a unanimous vote of approval rather than a true election.
The State Council is the true center of the government. When it was
created by the 1971 Constitution, Zhivkov chose to relinquish his
governmental post as chairman of the Council of Ministers (the
country's premier) and assume the position of president of the State
Council, leaving no doubt about where real governmental power lay. The
State Council, in effect, is a collective executive body that, because
the National Assembly meets so infrequently, also becomes a major
initiator of legislation.

The Council of Ministers, also elected by the National Assembly in the
same manner as the State Council, functions as the administrative arm of
the government. Here again, party influence is pervasive. In 1973 the
chairman of the council (premier) and four deputy chairmen were
concurrently members of the party Politburo, the minister of internal
affairs was a candidate member of the Politburo, and most other
ministers were members of the Central Committee.

Matters of state--such as defense, foreign affairs, education, and
welfare--usually associated with the central government of any country
are handled by individual ministries and are overseen by the Council of
Ministers. In addition to such affairs of state, however, various
ministries, as well as the council itself, are charged with
administering the country's entire economy, as is the case in other
communist-ruled states. In mid-1973 eleven ministries out of a total of
twenty-two dealt exclusively with economic matters. In addition, the
State Planning Committee, the chairman of which holds ministerial rank,
is of great importance in the overall economic structure.

The economic ministries control virtually every aspect of the country's
economy. The goals of nationalization of all industry and
collectivization of agriculture were achieved early in the communist
era, and the efforts of the party-government ever since have been toward
increased efficiency. In Bulgaria the quest for greater production has
led to ever greater centralization of