Milan Igrutinović BILATERAL RELATIONS AND OPEN ISSUES BETWEEN BULGARIA AND SERBIA IN THE CONTEXT OF SERBIA’S EU ACCESSION PROCESS CENTER FOR APPLIED EUROPEAN STUDIES 2017 INTRODUCTION A look at Serbian bilateral relations with its neighbors shows us that Bulgaria holds a position of one of three "old neighbors", a country that had a border and diplomatic relations with it before the collapse of the SFRY. Actually, diplomatic relations with Bulgaria reach further in the past than with any other country, and are a few months older than the ones with Romania, so we can say that Bulgaria is the "oldest" Serbian neighbor, if we measure it like this. Besides a similar position towards the Ottoman Empire and common heritage of gaining independence from it, two countries waged four wars in a 60-year span (1885-1944), all while changing border, alliances and foreign policy orientations. Still, in the period that we are looking at, which is present time, we can say that relations are sufficiently stable and cordial, that they open the way for further cooperation and that certain issues are being dealt with in reasonable and satisfactory way. In the following section we will briefly show a history of relations until 5 October 2000, that is to the end of period which, in its last phase, has been marked by the collapse of Yugoslavia and the international isolation, and then pay more attention to the relations after 2000 with a closer look at some more relevant topics of bilateral relations. * * * Serbian - Bulgarian diplomatic contacts have started right after the Berlin Congress of July 1878, when Serbian Principality gained international recognition of sovereignty and independence. Bulgarian Principality was created as a result of Russo-Turkish War of 1877/1878, but had remained a vassal state of Ottoman Empire. After the establishment of diplomatic relations in January 1879, Prince Milan sent his first diplomatic agent and general consul in Sofia, while an adjutant of Prince Alexander Battenberg was sent to Nis. Two rulers' close personal connections were soon disturbed by state ambitions, so a short war broke out in November 1885 by an unsuccessful Serbian attack, with withdrawal and status quo ante peace. A period of competition for defining cultural and political profile of Christians living in European part of the Ottoman Empire, especially in Macedonia, has marked bilateral relations until the 2 start of the second decade of the 20th century. Two countries, jointly with Greece and Montenegro within the Balkan alliance have attacked the Ottoman Empire on 8 October 2012, claiming victory before the end of the year that left the Empire with only a small patch of land surrounding Istanbul, with victors gaining the rest of its Balkan possessions. Lines of divisions have caused a clash among allies, a clash in which Bulgaria found itself alone against the others, and started an attack in Macedonia on June 29 1913. Romania and the Ottoman Empire have joined the war against Bulgaria in July, leading to Bulgarian defeat, marked by a peace accord in Bucharest in August. Bulgaria declared its neutrality with the start of the World War One in 1914, but, after long diplomatic activities it had joined Central powers on 14 October 1915 with an attack on Serbia. Swift Entente victories in September 1918 had caused Bulgaria to end its war effort, as a first Central powers' country to do so. Creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes on 1 December 1918 and peace treaty with Bulgaria that was signed in Neuilly-sur-Seine in 1919 had led to the change of border and the new basis for relations, in which Yugoslavia rather than Serbia was their subject. Unstable and generally poor relations have characterized the period leading to the World War Two, when Bulgaria, following the defeat of Yugoslavia and its arrangements with Axis powers, sent troops to Yugoslavia on 19 April 1941. Under Soviet military pressure Bulgaria changed its position on 8 September 1944, its government changed and Bulgarian Workers Party became a dominant force in its society. With the victory of partisan forces in Yugoslavia under leadership of Communist Party of Yugoslavia, both countries have started to develop communist forms of government, and on 8 May 1945 they have (re)established diplomatic relations. After short- lived ideas of Balkan federation, relations were marked by logic of bloc divisions and non- aligned position of Yugoslavia for decades. Fast pace of collapse of communist order in Bulgaria in late 1980s and similar process accompanied by dissolution and war in Yugoslavia in early 1990s created a new groundwork for relations. Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, formally created on 27 April 1992 out of Republic of Serbia and Republic of Montenegro, had started its existence in practical and then formal international isolation, due to the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia. Bulgaria had observed the UN sanctions toward Yugoslavia and has declared that it will not take actions with regards to the war in former Yugoslavia. Bulgaria has many times put forward the issue of damages it took by the sanctions regime, putting a price on it from 6 to 10 billion dollars. It should be noted that Milan Panić, a first FRY Prime-minister made its first international visits to Romania, Bulgaria and Macedonia, in August 1992. Different paths that two countries had in early 1990s could be seen through two days in December 1995. Paris peace accord that ended wars in Bosnia and Croatia was signed on December 14, while Bulgaria officially declared its wish to become a EU member on December 16. Bulgarian Prime-minister Zhan Videnov (from Bulgarian Socialist Party) had visited Belgrade on 12 February 1996, wishing to kick-start stronger bilateral cooperation and to initiate a conference of Balkan countries' foreign ministers. The importance of good relations was 3 underscored by sending Filip Ishpekov, Videnov's foreign policy advisor as an Ambassador in FRY in April 1996. Videnov's initiative resulted in Sofia declaration of Balkan countries' foreign ministers, on 7 July 1996, dedicated to stability, security and regional cooperation. A treaty on customs cooperation was signed in June 1997, followed by the visit of Bulgarian Army's delegation to FRY Army and by the adoption of Salonika declaration on good neighbors’ relations and cooperation. The escalation of political conflict between Serbian government and Kosovo Albanians led first to sporadic armed clashes and then from the start of 1998 to openly violent clashes. During her visit to FRY President Milosevic and Foreign Minister Jovanovic on 28 March, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Nadezhda Mihaylova had expressed the need for dialogue between two sides and had also offered the mediation by other Balkan countries to that effort. Jovanovic had declined such a possibility, maintaining that such an involvement would directly or indirectly aid the rebel forces. A new batch of sanctions by USA and the EU had started in summer of 1998, while Bulgaria froze the FRY and Serbian property on its soil on 8 June. During Paris talks between FRY and Kosovo Albanians' delegations the Balkan countries' presidents have appealed to Slobodan Milosevic to accept the deals at hand, and with the start of the bombing campaign on 24 March President Petar Stojanov had said that "Bulgaria has no other options than keeping Euro- Atlantic solidarity". DEVELOPMENT OF RELATIONS AFTER 5 OCTOBER 2000 Bulgaria met the 5 October changes with relief. Minister Mihaylova came to visit Belgrade on 23 October and she marked the current changes in FRY as a new period for the Balkans. One month later she came again, meeting also with Patriarch Pavle. New FRY President Vojislav Kostunica met Bulgarian President Stojanov in Nis on 20 November 2000. Both heads of state had concurred that there was a need to advance relations across the field, and to further the relaxation in the region. The issue of possible visa restrictions by Bulgaria towards Yugoslav citizens arose at that time, due to the new Bulgarian obligations vis-a-vis Schengen visa regime. During the visit by FRY Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic to Sofia at the end of January 2001 a new readmission treaty was signed that kept the visa-free regime for Yugoslav citizens. A treaty on cooperation on infrastructure issues, for the Nis-Sofia highway, was also signed. The importance of transportation in this early period after 5 October was further shown by the session of the Yugoslav-Bulgarian Economic Cooperation Commission on 22-24 April 2001 in Belgrade. Commissions were led by two ministers of transportation (Zoran Sami and Antoni Slavinski), and two agreements were signed - the Protocol of Cooperation and the Treaty on Air and Maritime Transport. FRY Defense Minister Slobodan Krapovic had visited his Bulgarian colleague Boyko Noyev at the beginning of March 2001. 4 In the middle of 2001 the National Movement for Stability and Progress came to power in Bulgaria, led by Simeon Sakskoburggotski, last and under-aged Bulgarian Emperor 1943-1946. New Foreign Minister Solomon Pasi has visited Belgrade on 26 November 2001 in return visit, where he signed the Agreement on Cultural Cooperation. Pasi has met with President Kostunica, while publicly advocating the creation of new communication infrastructure on the Balkans, parallel to one aided by the Marshal Fund in Europe after World War Two. Impetus for cross-border cooperation was given on 26 October 2002 when mayors of Sofia, Skopje and Nis had signed the agreement on creation of first Euroregion in the Balkans, accompanied by university cooperation agreement. The process of relaxation of commercial activities was continued by the free trade agreement, signed on 15 January 2003, while two days later Bulgaria had lifted remaining sanctions that it had implemented alongside the EU, leaving only Slobodan Milosevic, Milan Milutinovic and connected persons as subjects of sanctions regime.