The Principles, The Instruments And The Ways Of Cooperation Between Romania And Switzerland, 1939-1963

Abstract

In my thesis, I’m looking at the role of Romania, as part of the Central/Eastern European space, in shaping the Swiss foreign affairs, as well as the role of Switzerland, like a country with a neutral status and belonging to the Western European space, in shaping the Romanian foreign affairs. The guiding motive is to show that the existence of politicial/diplomatical and trading interests of both countries are tightly narrowed, and they can be balanced according to the international political order, the changes of the Romanian internal regime and the switches of the economic external policy of the Swiss Gouvernment.

Theoretically, this is based on a multidisciplinary approach in international relations and history. Practically, it is the fruit of several years of researches in the Swiss Federal Archives, the Swiss National Library, the Romanian National Archives, the Romanian Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the University Library of Bucharest and still other.

So, the work is divided in three parts. Firstly, it traces the historical backgroud of the Romanian-Swiss relations, passing through the foundation of the Swiss colonies in Romania, then the first consular and diplomatic missions of Switzerland in Romania and vice versa, the development of the Swiss-Romanian commercial relations based on a system of clearing, the Romanian cultural activities and press service in Switzerland, to the consequences of the European crisis, at the end of the 1930s, on the external policies of the two countries.

The next part focuses on the intensity of the Swiss-Romanian relations during a new political regime in Romania, set up by the general (later on, marshal) Ion Antonescu. During the Second World War, Switzerland and Romania established a special relationship with one another. It stimulated the Swiss economic diplomacy, particularly the diplomatie du pétrole, towards Romania, as it made the Swiss diplomatic mission in Bucharest to play a role by representing the interests of fifteen belligerant countries, among them the United States and Great Britain, whith which the Antonescu Gouvernment broke off. In the aftermath of the entrance of Romania into the war, the Swiss territoriy became a country of exile for a certain number of Romanian diplomats and former ministers. The desire of the vice-president of the Antonescu Gouvernement, the leaders of the main political parties and those exiled elite to stop Romania continuing the war and find an armistice with the Anglo-Americans spured their efforts to deploy an unoffical diplomacy, or a diplomacie officieuse, in Switzerland, towards the Swiss chief of Foreign Affairs, as well as towards several diplomatic missions in Bern, such as the British mission, the Vatican mission and the Finnish mission. These efforts have also been pursued through a range of Romanian cultural activities and articles published in the Swiss journals.

Finally, the third part tries to assess the return to the normality of the Swiss-Romanian relations. The end of the Second World War and the coming into power of the Communists, as loyal puppets to Moscow’s interests in Romania, were accompanied by the outbreak of some crisis in the Swiss-Romanian cooperation, generated by the nationalisation of the Swiss holdings in Romania, the claim for some Romanian funds deposited by the former Antonescu Gouvernment in Switzerland, the arresting of many Swiss and double-nationals in Romania, the charges of espionage, the blocking of the Romanian assets in Switzerland. The signing of a new series of trade and financial agreements between Romania and Switzerland improved the diplomatic dialogue rather than the trade level. In fact, the relations between the two countries were largely influenced by the logic of East-West international order. However, the Swiss diplomacy tried to maintain a balance between the two blocs, continuing its traditional relations with Roumania, where the leader of the Communist Party, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, pursued a closing cooperation with the Soviet Union, for opening again his country to the West. Driven by his political ambition, or by the necessity of achieving the five-year plan of the centralised state-economy, Dej tried to unfasten the Soviet belt and refurbish the Romanian prestige and diplomacy in the international scene. The gradual improvement of the relations with the Swiss Gouvernment and the priority given to the negociations with some Swiss parteners (particularly, with Sulzer Frères and Brown Boveri) are to be considered among the first signs of the Romania’s commitement to cooperation and opennesse towards the West. Yet, the liberalisation of Dej’s regime was always put in question by the Swiss diplomatic mission in Bucharest. The common desire of both countries to cooperate was also relevant by the cultural and artistic relations, some sport events, the travelling of the professors and journalists, the faciliy for the Swiss and double-nationals from Romania to get an exit visa and to repatriate. In December 1962, the elevation of the Romanian and Swiss diplomatic missions to Embassies reflected not only the Romanian policy of opennesse towards the Western countries, like Switzerland, but also the existence of some mutual interests for developing the diplomatic and trade relations and so forth.

My next researches are going to reveal the roots and the strategy of the Romanian openesse and cooperation with the West, since the 1950s, based on the records of the Romanian Communist Party and the Romanian Gouvernment during the Dej era. I shall have to analyse the role of the Communist Party in conducting the Romanian foreign affairs, the Romanina decision-making process in the foreign affairs issues, the political behavior of the Romanian leaders towards the masters of the Soviet bloc, as well as to show the position which the Neutral countries holded within the Romanian strategy towards the West. Then, taking the Romanian and Swiss oral stories, memoirs and records, I shall cast a new perspective over the amazing continuity of the Swiss business in Romania during the Communist regime, the Swiss contribution the the Romanian industrialisation and electrification of Romania. I shall also be looking to the interpretations given by some Romanians exiles in Switzerland with regard to the evolution of the Romania’s internal and external regim, and to history community or personal experiences in exile over there.

Claudia Chinezu
PhD Student at the University of Fribourg
Cité Saint-Justin
Rue de Rome 9
1700 Fribourg
SWITZERLAND
E-mail: claudia.chinezu@unifr.ch


Splaiul 1 Decembrie 1918
Bl. 11, Sc. A, Ap. 6
1800 Lugoj, District of Timis
ROMANIA