640.0031 Danube/98

The Chief of the Division of Near Eastern Affairs (Murray) to the Under Secretary of State (Castle)

Mr. Castle: During the course of a call which the Bulgarian Minister made on me this morning he remarked that his Government had been much disappointed at the apparent determination of M. Tardieu to exclude Bulgaria from participation in the proposed Danubian Union and that the Bulgarian Minister in Paris had been instructed to communicate formally to the French Government the hopes of the Bulgarian Government that favorable action would even yet be taken with regard to Bulgaria’s desire to participate.

Mr. Radeff went on to say that the present situation of Bulgaria is very unenviable since she is apparently being forced into a position of opposition to the British and French governments and of being sponsored by the Germans and the Italians. He said the Bulgarian Government desired, above all, to keep out of disputes of this kind and to avoid being tied up too closely with any rival European group of powers.

When I remarked on the press reports that consideration might be given to a customs union between Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey, he said that such a combination would be useless since the three countries do not complement each other sufficiently to warrant such a plan. While it was true, he said, that Bulgaria could supply Greece with cereals, it was to be remembered that all three countries produce tobacco and have to seek foreign markets for that commodity.

Wallace Murray