Some are still crying to get their bills paid...
The Washington Post
By Alison Mutler
Associated Press Writer
Friday, August 27, 1999; 1:15 a.m. EDT
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) -- After strongly supporting NATO's bombing
campaign against Yugoslavia, countries of the southern Balkans are
anxiously awaiting tangible rewards from the United States and Western
Europe.
During the 78-day air campaign, traditionally isolated countries such
as Bulgaria, Romania and Macedonia, which border Yugoslavia, were on
the diplomatic center stage.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright and NATO's supreme allied commander, Gen. Wesley Clark, all
came calling to urge governments in the former communist countries to
stand with the West, despite public sympathy for the Serbs, who share
their Orthodox cultural traditions.
Now that the bombing is over, however, southern Balkan states fear
they will be forgotten, left even poorer and more isolated by the NATO
campaign. And Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic is still in power.
''There is great apathy in the region,'' said Adrian Nastase, a
leading member of Romania's opposition. ''The feeling is that the West
has abandoned this area, leaving it prey to internal machinations and
its own conflicts.''
Support for NATO among southern Balkan countries went beyond rhetoric.
Romania and Bulgaria allowed NATO to use their airspace to attack
Yugoslavia. Macedonia served as a staging area for Western ground
forces who are now in Kosovo under the June peace deal.
That support carried a price. At least seven NATO missiles strayed
over the border into Bulgaria, one of which damaged a house on the
edge of the capital, Sofia.
Key parts of the Danube River, a major trade artery to Western Europe,
remain unnavigable after NATO destroyed bridges in Yugoslavia.
Romania's government said the airstrikes cost the country $1 billion
in lost business, and Bulgaria claims $100 million in lost trade.
Last month, President Clinton and leaders of about 40 other nations
endorsed a Balkan Stability Pact aimed at promoting economic
development and democracy in the region. So far, however, only the
United States has committed any funds to the project.
''It is inconceivable that in the east, (Western nations) could spend
$20 billion on two months of war, but they cannot find $2 billion to
consolidate the peace,'' the Bucharest newspaper Adevarul said.
Meanwhile, Romania and Bulgaria are still paying the price for their
support.
Ship owners in the two countries lost tens of millions of dollars
because the air campaign cut off shipping along the Danube. Now,
Romanian ship owners claim the Serbs are refusing to let Bulgarian and
Romanian ships use an alternate channel that bypasses an area of the
river blocked by destroyed bridges.
Russia and Ukraine, which opposed NATO airstrikes, freely sail along
the narrow stretch of water, according to Mircea Toader, deputy head
of the Association of Romanian ship owners and port operators.
In July, one month after the bombing campaign ended, Romanian
President Emil Constantinescu criticized Western leaders for a
''double-standard treatment'' of his country.
''Every day a prominent NATO or European Union leader comes to visit
us in Bucharest to praise Romania's behavior during the conflict,'' he
said. ''We ask ourselves, who is the one punished now?''
Since then, Constantinescu has toned down the rhetoric. Both he and
Bulgarian President Petar Stoyanov are anxious to join NATO and the
European Union and want to avoid open criticism.
Blair promised to support Romania's EU aspirations. But some people in
this southeast European nation of 23 million are skeptical. Balkan
countries historically see themselves as pawns in the hands of the
world's powers.
''I am not disappointed by the West because Romania isn't, wasn't and
never will be helped by another state'' said Nicolae Habagiu, 45.
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