Планът Маршал, европейските сили и България
The Marshall Plan, the European Powers and Bulgaria

Summary/Abstract: Defending its economic interests, the USA evolved a strategy with a long-term and manysided effect on the economic and socio-political development of the Continent of Europe. The Marshall Plan gave the initial impetus to the integration processes in Europe and contributed not only to the recovery but also to the reconstruction and modernization of the European economy, and to the introduction of a regulated social market economy. The active role of the Great Britain and France in elaborating the recovery programme proved that they were zealous partisans of the idea of a united European economy. In this sense they were sincere in their intentions to draw to the plan the East European states and the USSR. In uniting the European interests they saw a sure guarantee for the preservation of their economic superiority and for counteracting the hegemony of the USA in Europe. The American aid proposal, and later also the projects prepared by Great Britain and France, were unacceptable to the USSR which wanted at any price to preserve its status of a great power. The two specific trends in Europe’s post-war development, namely towards the opening of the national economies and the formation of international economic institutions, made the Soviet government still more cautious with respect to the Western initiatives. The Soviet Union could not be an equal partner of the developed states. What was still worse in this case was that it subordinated also the interests of the other East European states to its hegemonic strivings. Bulgaria was invited by Great Britain and France to take part in the European economic recovery programme. On the suggestion of the Soviet government, she gave a negative reply to the British-French note. As a result of her refusal to participate in the Marshall Plan Bulgaria lost the West European markets for one of her basic export goods – tobacco. More disastrous for the country was the fact that she become part of an isolated community in which the dominating power possessed a considerably more limited economic potential. The division of Europe made possible also the more unimpeded introduction of the Soviet socio-economic model which destroyed the traditional structures of the Bulgarian economy.

• Details
• Contents