When Britain and France required Bulgaria to abide by the Treaty of Neuilly, the new Bulgarian government promulgated its economic revitalization bill, the "Bulgarian Economic Revitalization Plan."
The new Prime Minister Kerstev also acted vigorously and promulgated the bill within a week.
In this plan, Bulgaria needs to build its roads, water conservancy, medical and other facilities. The most important thing is the upgrade of two railways, one is the railway from Sofia through Pleven to Bucharest, and the other is the southern city
Kerdjali has access to the railway from Veliko Tarnovo to Varna. In addition, there are several roads under construction connecting other major cities.
In particular, the construction of water conservancy facilities is the most important to Bulgaria at present. Because Bulgaria's industry is not strong and most of its population is in rural areas, water conservancy facilities are most urgent. In addition, due to the impact of the economic crisis, Bulgaria's fiscal revenue has dropped significantly. The government allocated this
It seems powerless to do anything, and the only thing left to do is to rely on the farmers themselves to maintain it.
However, farmers' affordability is already poor, and the lack of government funds makes the maintenance of water conservancy facilities even more difficult. According to internal statistics from the Bulgarian government, during the years of economic crisis, Bulgaria's water conservancy facilities decreased by 18%. And among the water conservancy facilities that were not damaged,
31% of irrigation channels and irrigation stations lack maintenance.
This has a fatal impact on agricultural production. Therefore, the planting area of wheat, rye, oats and other crops that require irrigation in Bulgaria in recent years has only been 557,000 hectares, compared with 69.1 hectares before the economic crisis, a decrease of 20%. Potatoes, corn, etc. are resistant to drought.
On the contrary, the crops have increased slightly, which has led to a decrease in the income of Bulgarian farmers and reduced their enthusiasm for farming. In general, the cultivated land in Bulgaria is also shrinking.
Therefore, in general, the cultivated land in Bulgaria is shrinking. After taking office as Prime Minister Kerstev, the most important livelihood project was to allocate large amounts of money to water conservancy facilities in order to maintain the income of domestic farmers.
Of course, ensuring farmers' income will not make Bulgaria rich. To make Bulgaria rich, it must rely on industry. And Kerstev already has a plan, which is to further process the tobacco industry and rose oil based on the actual situation in Bulgaria.
Bulgaria's tobacco and rose oil are also very famous in the world. Affected by the temperate continental climate and mountains, Bulgaria is very suitable for the growth of these two crops, so there is no reason for Kerstev not to make it bigger and stronger.
It is not that no one has thought about further processing these two specialties before, but they were all affected by insufficient funds. There was no way to do it. Bulgaria had encountered several wars in succession before, and even the poor treasury could starve to death.
However, Bulgaria under Edel could rely on assistance from Romania to complete this plan. Therefore, Kerstev had no psychological burden at all and began massive construction without hesitation.
Of course, Kerstev is well aware of the Kingdom of Romania's intention to tie Bulgaria to a line, and he himself is also willing to see results.
Therefore, with the introduction of the "Bulgarian Economic Revitalization Plan", there was also the signing of the Free Trade Agreement between the two countries. In order to better connect the economies of the two countries, this agreement provides for personnel exchanges, economic and trade, tourism and study abroad between the two countries.
Clear provisions have been made in all aspects.
The main purpose is to reduce border inspections between the two countries. In the future, personnel exchanges between the two countries will no longer be subject to inspections. Moreover, the two countries will not be allowed to impose any restrictions on business, study, work, etc., as long as they do not violate the law. In a word, that is
Reduce mutual inspections and other tasks between the two countries until free movement at the border is abolished.
In addition, in view of the differences in legal culture and other aspects between the two countries, the two kingdoms, currently both under the same monarch, are also trying to achieve an outcome that is satisfactory to both parties. However, in general, Bulgaria is moving closer to Romania.
Romania has also made compromises on some Bulgarian customs.
Its main purpose is to avoid the situation in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, where two sets of governments are in charge of their own affairs. This is mainly promoted by Edel and the top leaders of the two countries.
Many far-sighted politicians could see that the Austro-Hungarian Empire was divided into pieces. In addition to the lack of cohesion caused by too many ethnic groups during World War I, there was also the inability to coordinate between the two governments.
For example, on the issue of naval construction, the two kingdoms have completely opposite attitudes. And the attitude towards Serbia is the same. The two governments spent too much time and energy on wrangling, leaving it entirely to them to handle matters.
The response is too slow.
Edel naturally will not turn a blind eye to this. He has been dealing with this issue since he became the king of Bulgaria.
And there is another problem that also troubles the two governments, and that is the naval base in Varna.
As Romania's main naval base and shipbuilding center, Varna's importance to Romania's navy is obvious. However, after Edel assigned the region to Bulgaria, the navy's presence here became extremely conspicuous.
In fact, when Edel returned places such as South Budoroga to Bulgaria, the naval problem was also considered.
Of course, it is impossible to want the navy to move, and Bulgaria's current relationship with Romania does not dare to make such a request. But hidden dangers are hidden dangers after all, and we must find ways to solve them.
The best way is to merge the two kingdoms, so that everyone does not have to separate each other. However, this method cannot be used yet. Not to mention the opinions of the people of the two countries, even other countries are not willing to see the merger of the two countries.
.
This is not the crisis-ridden year of 1938 in Europe when Germany and Austria merged. If Romania and Bulgaria were to merge now, it would inevitably put Romania at the forefront, which would be quite detrimental to it. Therefore, this method cannot be used at the moment.
Since this method is useless, is there any other way? There is also a way for the two countries to form a joint fleet, which can not only calm possible disputes, but also strengthen the feelings between the two countries.
OK?
Very good, very good.
But it doesn't work either.
Why?
Because according to the provisions of the Treaty of Neuilly, Bulgaria cannot have a navy. If a joint fleet is formed, it will in fact break the Treaty of Neuilly. Eder and the Bulgarian government have just agreed that Britain and France will abide by the treaty and cannot slap themselves in the face.
Although the treaty was meant to be broken, Edel would certainly not do it if he only received nominal benefits without real benefits.
So this method cannot be used.
Then there is only one last option left, which is leasing. When Romania provided funds to Bulgaria, the Navy proposed to hand over the right to use the Varna Naval Base to them.
Of course, the Romanian government cannot ignore the request of the navy. The Bulgarian side will naturally not refuse the request from Romania. Regardless of the relationship between the two countries and being under the same monarch, the strength of the two countries also needs to be considered.
Moreover, among the investments in Varna, the Romanian Navy and its associated factories account for an overwhelming share. If the Romanian Navy were to relocate, the Bulgarian government would not be able to afford the relocation fee alone.
Therefore, the two countries finally signed a lease clause for the Varna naval port; this clause stipulates that the lease of the naval port between the two countries is for ten years, and its annual rent is five million lei. After the lease expires, negotiations will continue to renew the lease.
question.
However, both parties know that it is impossible to discuss the renewal of the lease. The reason is very simple. The merger of the two countries in the future is the general trend. Since they have become one country, there is no need to discuss the issue of renewal of the lease.
