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Romania FOREIGN POLICY
Administration
Foreign policy formulation, according to the
Constitution, is
the responsibility of the GNA, and its implementation is
within the
purview of the Council of Ministers. In reality the
highest
echelons of the PCR--in 1989 the Ceausescu circle, the
Permanent
Bureau, and the Polexco--formulated foreign policy. Party
decisions
were channeled through the Central Committee's Directorate
for
International Affairs to the GNA, which approved them
automatically
and without amendment. The State Council had the executive
function
of ratifying international treaties and establishing
diplomatic
relations with other states. As the head of state, the
president of
the republic represented Romania in international
relations.
The Council of Ministers coordinated and implemented
foreign
policy through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the
Ministry of
Foreign Trade and International Economic Cooperation.
Because
decision-making powers resided in the party leadership,
however,
the ministries functioned almost exclusively as
administrative
agencies. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was responsible
for
implementing party directives in diplomatic, educational,
cultural,
and scientific relations with other states and with
international
organizations. The Ministry of Foreign Trade and
International
Economic Cooperation functioned as the central organ for
the
country's international trade and economic activities.
In 1989 the organizational structure of the Ministry of
Foreign
Affairs remained essentially the same as that established
by the
Constitution of 1965. The ministry had five geographical
and eight
functional directorates. Geographical directorates were
set up for
the socialist countries; Western Europe; Africa; Asia,
Middle East,
and Oceania; and the Americas. There were functional
directorates
for consular affairs; culture and press; diplomatic
courier and
cable service; finance and accounting; foreign economic
relations
and international organizations; organization, control,
and
personnel training; protocol; and supply and
administration.
In 1989 the Ministry of Foreign Trade and International
Economic Cooperation consisted of nine geographical
directorates
and twelve functional directorates, two of which were
merged in a
separate department. The geographical directorates
included Africa,
Asia and Oceania, Latin America, Middle East, North
America,
members of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance
(Comecon),
non-Comecon socialist countries, Soviet Union, and Western
Europe.
The functional directorates were economic, administrative,
and
secretariat; export-import I (authorizing exports and
imports and
monitoring the production of export commodities by the
heavy
equipment, machine-building, electrical engineering,
metallurgical,
extractive, and electric energy industries); export-import
II
(authorizing exports and imports and monitoring the
production of
export commodities by the chemical and petrochemical,
woodprocessing , agriculture, food-processing, and light
industries);
finance and accounting; foreign contracts, agreements, and
legal
matters; foreign trade and international economic
cooperation plan;
hard currency; organization and control; personnel,
education, and
remuneration; and prices and effectiveness of foreign
trade
operations. In addition, there was the international
economic
cooperation department consisting of two
directorates--export of
complex installations, international bids, and technical
assistance; and joint companies and coordination of
international
economic cooperation activity. Over the years the ministry
was
subjected to several reorganizations and restructurings.
In 1989 Romania maintained diplomatic relations with
125
countries (118 at the ambassadorial level) and the
Palestine
Liberation Organization (PLO). Although most governments
maintained
embassies in Bucharest, some Western countries maintained
only
symbolic representation or conducted business from a
neighboring
country because of the shortage of food and the inadequate
heating
during the winter. Romania also had trade relations with
certain
states with which it had not established formal diplomatic
ties.
In 1989 Romania continued to be a member of the UN and
a number
of UN specialized agencies. It was also a member, albeit
an often
reluctant one, of the
Warsaw Treaty Organization (see Glossary),
more commonly known as the Warsaw Pact, and Comecon.
Data as of July 1989
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