De-satellization of the Socialist Republic of Romania
Due to the conflictual relationship between Bucharest and Moscow, the West did not hold the Soviet Union responsible for the policies pursued by Romania, as it did for other countries in the region such as Czechoslovakia and Poland.
In the late 1960s, Władysław Gomułka of Poland and Todor Zhivkov of Bulgaria even suggested expelling Romania from the Warsaw Pact over Romanian-proposed amendments to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
Its reasons for remaining included Ceaușescu's interest in preserving the threat of a Pact invasion so he could sell himself as a nationalist, as well as privileged access to NATO counterparts and a seat at various European forums which he otherwise could not have obtained.
[8] For instance, Romania and the Soviet-led remainder of the Warsaw Pact formed two distinct groups in the elaboration of the Helsinki Final Act.
[9] Certain historians such as Robert King and Dennis Deletant argue against using the term "independent" to describe Romania's relations with the Soviet Union, favoring "autonomy" due to its continued membership in both the Comecon and Warsaw Pact, along with its commitment to socialism.
But this perspective fails to explain why Romania blocked Mongolia's accession to the Warsaw Pact in July 1963, why it voted in favor of a November 1963 UN resolution to establish a nuclear-free zone in Latin America when the other Socialist countries abstained, or why it opposed the Soviet-proposed "strong collective riposte" against China in 1964, to take but a few examples from the 1963–1964 period.
This was finally achieved on 25 July 1958, when Romania announced that all Soviet troops had left its territory,[12] arguably the biggest development in the country between 1956 and Dej's death in 1965.
After the Austrian State Treaty in 1955 and the withdrawal of the Red Army there, that pretext was moot, and the Romanians suggested the Soviets reconsider the need to maintain a military presence in Romania.
But at a Warsaw Pact meeting in May 1958, in keeping with Khrushchev's desire for improved relations with the West, the withdrawal of the Red Army from Romania was announced.
[13][14] In April 1964, Romania formally declared its independence from the Soviet Union's control[15] and detailed its plans to reorient its economy towards agriculture and natural resource extraction.
[24] In 1962, Soviet economists proposed to subordinate the economy of Eastern Europe, including that of Romania, to a supranational planning body of the Comecon.
A particular turning point occurred in 1968, when Ceaușescu publicly criticised the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia and refused to participate.
Romania formally approached the European Economic Community for preferential trade terms in 1972, and repeatedly took independent positions in the United Nations.
When other Eastern Bloc countries severed diplomatic relations with Chile after the anti-communist coup there in September 1973, Romania refused to do so.
[39] In 1979, following the Soviet-backed Vietnamese invasion of Democratic Kampuchea, Romania became the first Warsaw Pact member to cast an anti-Soviet vote in the United Nations General Assembly.
One month later, at a meeting of communist states in Sofia, Romania joined North Korea in refusing to endorse the invasion.
