The Dominion. FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 1940. A BALKANS READJUSTMENT

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 282, 23 August 1940, Page 8

The Dominion. FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 1940. A BALKANS READJUSTMENT

Britain’s attitude toward the latest territorial adjustment in the Balkans has been simply and straightforwardly expressed. She welcomes the news of a Romano-Bulgarian agreement, involving the return of two Dobrujan provinces to Bulgaria, as'a factor in bringing about improved relations in the Balkans. “It is felt in London, today’s report of the agreement states, “that now that old grievances are settled the two countries should be able to co-operate in Balkans de fence. Jf Such a view is fully consistent with British policy in the Balkans throughout the present century, but more particularly since the Great War. She has not taken sides in territorial questions; on the contrary she has striven at all times to encourage peaceful consideration oi claims and counter-claims. Bulgaria’s claim to the provinces of the Dobruja involved in this week’s transfer goes back to the sixth century. In 1878 Rumania made her first encroachment by the treaty of Berlin, and in August, 1913, the Treaty of Bucharest gave her another 30-mile depth of the Dobruja-the two provinces now ceded. She lost the entire Dobruja by annexation in May, 1918, but the ultimate defeat of the Central Powers brought about the restoration of the 1913 frontier. . . .. It is thus to be seen that Rumanian possession of Dobrujan soil spans barely the lifetime of a man, whereas Bulgarian roots are deep and traditional. If the Bulgarian people are wholly satisfied with the readjustment, and a lasting amity develops, Rumania s price has not been heavy. She loses a fertile strip of country, but retains the principal Dobrujan ports on the Black Sea coast, including Constanta, her most important ice-free outlet. No doubt Germany will endeavour to make capital out of the conclusion of the agreement by claiming that her increased diplomatic influence over Rumania has been used for the healing of what Hitlei in 1938-39 was fond of calling “bleeding frontiers.” Actually Germany’s policy in the Balkans today is one of the purest expediency. As Rumania has been jockeyed by Berlin and Moscow into a perilous position of dependence upon the goodwill of . each—or both Germany is in a position to dictate favourable dealings with King Carol s “granary and oilfield of Europe.” In such circumstances a peaceful Balkans containing a subservient Rumania and a grateful Bulgaria suits Germany’s war plan. The Balkans nations, however, now face a choice of policy, which may have far-reaching effect on the future security of Eastern Europe. If the peaceful solution of territorial problems is the be-all and endall of their co-operation they will lie —as the little Olso States of Western Europe lay—helpless before a piecemeal attack by the aggressor Powers, if and when it suits them to make such a pounce. It is because the British Government is fully alive to this danger that the hope has been expressed in London that the new agreement will be followed by co-operation in defensive preparations. Eastern Europe is by no means free from the danger of Hitlerism simply because, for the moment, the Nazis are preoccupied in the west. Failure to recognize this may mean that the tragedies which followed Norway’s, Denmark’s and Holland’s hopeful “feeding of the crocodile are fated to be played over again in the Danubian basin.