Nadia Boyadjieva, Anna Graf-Steiner & Peter Ruggenthaler |
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Abstract: The Bulgarian Communist Party decided on January 16, 1968 to intensify economic, trade, cultural, scientific-technical and tourist relations with Austria. The establishment of “special relations” with Austria was given great emphasis in Bulgaria to increase the role played by itself in the Cold War theater, despite the difference in the socio-political order of the countries. After the suppression of the Prague Spring, Soviet leaders explicitly instructed Bulgaria to intensify relations with Western countries to sew discord among them. Vienna, in turn, gratefully accepted the outstretched hand from Sofia in order to intensify and test its Ostpolitik. When Zhivkov made a plea to Austrian Chancellor Klaus to advocate a pan-European security conference and even hold it in Vienna, Vienna, however, remained reluctant, as it did not want to be seen as a mouthpiece for Moscow’s wishes. An intensification of economic relations, on the other hand, were welcomed in Austria, especially to prevent to drive Bulgaria further into Moscow’s arms after the invasion of Czechoslovakia in August 1968. Nonetheless, trade remained imbalanced as there was little demand for Bulgarian products in Austria, despite mutual efforts (1971: agreement on payments; 1972: tourism agreement; 1973: most-favored nation treatment). The close integration of the Bulgarian economy into the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) left tourism as the only concrete field in which economic relations could be expanded.The article further concentrates on humanitarian issues frequently put forward by Austrian officials, as they – not least during the CSCE – ranked high on the Austrian agenda. It were also these issues that from Sofia’s (and, behind it, Moscow’s) perspective dragged out the CSCE negotiations. Of all people, the Austrian Chancellor Kreisky, whose Foreign Ministry and delegation supported these agendas, agreed with this assessment. At the same time, Sofia planned to use the humanitarian cases presented by Austria as political leverage, not least in exchange for cooperation against anti-Bulgarian emigrants in Austria.Todor Zhivkov interpreted the post-Helsinki agenda primarily in the further expansion of economic cooperation – and Austrian officials accepted, that there were limits with regard to cooperation in other, including humanitarian, matters. Cultural cooperation reached its peak in the 1970s and until Lyudmila Zhivkova‘s death in 1981. Todor Zhivkov’s adoption of a strongly nationalistic course in the 1980s strained the friendly relations, but did not bring them to an end. When Vienna hosted the CSCE Follow-up Meeting 1987-1989, it exercised restraint, but continued to stand up for the humanitarian provisions (Basket III). This “pro-Western” stance was seen critically (not only) in Sofia.After the opening of the “Iron Curtain” in 1989, Austria discontinued to focus on Bulgaria, but instead stretched its supportive hand towards those countries in Eastern Europe which showed signs of transformation. But also Bulgaria was more interested in expanding its relations with the USA and the large EU member states. Austria joined the EU in 1995, and Bulgaria followed in 2007. Whereas Austrian neutrality was thus limited to the purely military sphere – Bulgaria, on the other hand, joined NATO in 2004. Integration in Western institutions provided a degree of cooperation, security and stability to the two countries far beyond what had been possible during the Cold War.
Key words: détente, Cold War, Austrian-Bulgarian political and diplomatic relations, neutrality, economic cooperation, CSCE, human rights
Acknowledgments
The authors are thankful to many archivists in Austria and Bulgaria, including the Austrian State Archive /Archive of the Republic (ÖStA/AdR), the Central State Archive of the Republic of Bulgaria (Tsentralen Darzhaven Arhiv na Republika Bulgaria, or CDA), the Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria (Arhiv na Ministerstvo na vanshnite raboti na Republika Bulgaria, AMVnR), and the Stiftung Bruno Kreisky Archive (SBKA).
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