770.00/705: Telegram
The Minister in Yugoslavia (Lane) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 27—7:05 p.m.]
372. Legation’s telegram No. 365, December 13, 6 p.m.17 The Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs18 said to me yesterday that while a bloc in the terms proposed by Rumania might be dead, the idea for a Balkan neutral group to include Bulgaria is still alive. If [Page 477] and when Bulgaria is invited to join a neutral bloc with the present members of the Balkan Entente,19 Bulgarian territorial revindications would undoubtedly be put forward as a condition. The members of the Entente are still all agreed to form a bloc when the time arrives to approach Bulgaria.
Smiljanic expressed the opinion that if Bulgaria should join the bloc Italy too would become more enthusiastic over the project provided that Hungarian-Rumanian difficulties could be adjusted. He expressed apprehension that unless the various differences in the Balkans were adjusted and Italian cooperation obtained, the involvement of the Balkans in the war would be probable. While admitting that Italy controls Hungarian foreign relations he did not make the usual reference to the fear of Italian hegemony.