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 infor