România şi problema cooperării balcanice, 1969-1975
Romania and the projects for Balkan cooperation, 1969-1975

Summary/Abstract: This article explores Romania’s proposal for Balkan cooperation, formulated in the early 1970s and met with terrible opposition at the time by its partners in the Warsaw Pact. The proposals aimed to increase political dialogue at high-level among Balkan countries members of both NATO and WTO with the aim to improve security in the region across the Iron Curtain boundaries. The countries which manifested the strongest opposition to such plans were the Soviet Union and Bulgaria. While Moscow feared a Chinese penetration of the region and was reticent of the Romanian plan to fight off Soviet influence in the Balkans, Bulgaria too was suspicious of the Romanian intentions and feared isolation. Although the Romanian initiatives were not a materialization of Chinese influence, they did however pursued an anti-hegemonic agenda, trying to limit the superpowers’ influence in the peninsula and assert and independent role for the Balkans in Europe.

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