The stress on the primacy on the national goals resulted in the antagonism between Romania, the communist deviant state, and USSR, the leading member of the communist system. This policy was sometimes costly in political and economical terms.
Concerning military relations, Ceausescu's nationalist doctrine was one of the strongest centrifugal forces within the WTO. Many vital requirements of the alliance: the stationary of the Soviet troops on the territories of the member states, joint large-scale military operations on members' territories, the raising of the military budget, were all resented by Nicolae Ceausescu. In 1966, he declared:
"The military bloc and the existence of military bases and troops on the territory of other states are one of the obstacles in the way of collaboration among people. The existence of blocs as well as the sending the troops to other countries is an anachronism incompatible with the independence and national sovereignty of peoples and normal relations among states" #6; More than that, fears of an invasion made Romania's defence strategy to became very obvious directed against its partners in the WTO, and the USSR in particular#7;.
On economic terms, Romania refused any labour division or close economic co-operation within CMEA that would result in supranational structures. This policy on the one hand, and the Soviet unwillingness to pay for the Romanian industrialisation on the other hand resulted in general unprivileged economic relations with the Soviet Union and CMEA countries and a reorientation to the West of Romanian economy for credits and technology. The share of CMEA countries in Romanian trade decreased from 66.85 % in 1960 to 33.7 % in 1980, and that of the advanced capitalist countries from 22.1% to 32.8%#8;. The share of Soviet trade was also reducing systematically, from 51.5 % in 1958 to 43.7 % in 1959 and 40% in 1960#9;. In the following period this trend amplified:
Trade with Soviet Union as a Percentage of
Total Romanian Trade#10;
Year Percentage
1960 41
1965 38
1970 26
1975 18
1980 17
All these clashes find their expression in relatively cold political
relations. The Treaty of friendship and mutual aid signed by the
Soviet Union and Romania in the 1970 (Scanteia, 8 July 1970) contained
significant changes if compared, for example, with the similar
documents signed by Moscow with Prague or Budapest. Due to the
Bucharest manifest rejection of the Breshnev doctrine, it did
not mention the obligation of the socialist community to come
to the rescue of socialist achievements. More than that, the two
sides merely agreed to consult on foreign policy issues#11;. The cool
political relations in which the treaty was signed, were expressed
by the fact that both leaders, N. Ceausescu and Leonid Breshnev,
boycotted the signing festivity.
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