Stoyan Raichevski
Bulgarian Diplomatic
Review, Issue 12, 2004

When Belgium opened a consulate in the Danubian city of Rousse in 1868, the town was within the boundaries of the Ottoman Empire, as was the rest of Bulgaria. Bulgarians’ links with Belgium, however, date long before the opening of this Belgian consulate.

From the middle of the 19th century, many Bulgarians studied in Belgian schools or visited Belgian cities on business. Bulgarian newspapers published before the liberation of Bulgaria in 1878 often carried articles and information about Belgium, about the policy of its government and the achievements of Belgian industry and culture. Tsarigradski Vestnik, published in Istanbul in Bulgarian, for example, in 1852 had an article on the problems of the Belgian domestic policy.

Other newspapers such as Pravo and Vek, also published in Istanbul, commented on their pages the relations between France and Belgium in the early and mid-1870s. Of particular interest are the publications about Belgium in the emigrants’ editions, written by activists of the Bulgarian national liberation movement, printed in Romania and hence remaining outside the scope of Ottoman censure.

In its issue of October 21 1870, the newspaper Svoboda informed of serious warlike preparations of the Belgian government, which appointed a talented commander as minister of war and the popular General Rena as inspector of the National Guards. The newspaper editor denounced the attacks of the Prussian press on Belgium and expressed his indignation at the conduct of the Prussian ambassador in Brussels, who had instituted proceedings against Belgian newspapers. Svoboda quoted the Belgian press, protesting against the actions of the Prussian government in the person of its ambassador in Brussels, which would not allow the newspapers in an independent country “to think and write freely”.

Another Bulgarian newspaper published in Romania, Zname, in its issue of April 4 1875, commented on Bismarck’s recent note to Belgium, which expressed the discontent of the Prussian government with the Belgian press. Some European observers considered this note a serious threat to peace in Europe. As Zname underlined, the note to Belgium rather showed Bismarck’s desire not to be forgotten by European journalism, as he would be forgotten in time by the “history of the rational humankind”. But it also showed that “the European dictator thought naught” the freedom of the little states, which proved “weak before the crude force of despotic militarism”.

A month later, Zname carried an extensive article about acute political fights in Belgium, where “public security” was threatened by two opposite elements – the clericals and the socialists. The campaigning of the two parties reached such strain as to alarm the government. The Belgian people and its friends were greatly afflicted by a terrorist act. In broad daylight, an assailant shot three times at the popular Colonel Olivier. The tragic outcome was prevented by the intervention of the brother of the Belgian king, who drew his revolver in time and wounded the assaulter.

In June 1876, the Istanbul-published Bulgarian newspaper Iztochno Vreme also wrote about the interior political situation in Belgium. This time the topic was the hot struggle in the parliamentary elections and after them, when the Liberal Party, having lost its majority in Parliament, instigated rioting, which went on for days and took human life. The newspaper alluded to the French press, which condemned these sad acts of violence and disregard of the laws of parliament.

The Belgian Liberals threatened they would continue with their protests until the king proposed an amendment of the electoral law. This overt pressure on the Belgian king, according to the editor of Iztochno Vreme, contradicted the basic principles of parliamentary rule. The article author, however, hoped that the freedom-loving Belgians would not yield before such violation of political morals. “The Belgians,” the article read in conclusion, “will do well to retain their government, which has made them one of the most free, prosperous and respectable nations in Europe.”

These words speak best of the idea of the Bulgarians prior to the Liberation of Bulgaria from Ottoman domination about the Belgian people and Belgian state. Their evident sympathy for the people of Belgium is rooted in the similarity of ideals about the small nations’ right of independence, as well as freedom as a basic human right, something the Bulgarian people, deprived of any political freedom at the time, was very sensitive about. This idea about the Belgians and attitude towards Belgium the Bulgarians retained after the Liberation in 1878. Right after the signing and ratification by the Great Powers of the Berlin Peace Treaty of 1878, the Belgian diplomat Camille Janssen was appointed interim consul general of Belgium in the Principality of Bulgaria with a seat in the new capital Sofia.

After the adoption of the first Bulgarian Constitution by the Grand National Assembly in Turnovo on August 5 1879, the first Bulgarian government was formed and it undertook steps for establishing diplomatic relations with Belgium.

In the Bulgarian Principality there were very good prerequisites for the development of trade and cultural relations between the two countries. A large part of the intelligentsia, who were the builders of the Bulgarian state after the Liberation, had studied in Belgian universities or higher schools. The basic law of the Bulgarian Principality set up under the Berlin Treaty of 1878 – the Turnovo Constitution of 1879, was drawn to a great extent after the model of the Belgian constitution and was assessed by contemporaries as one of the most democratic and progressive constitutions in Europe and in the world at this time.

On December 11 1879, by letter to the minister of foreign affairs and religious matters, Janssen announced he was appointed consul general of Belgium with jurisdiction over the whole of Bulgaria and requested that he be recognised in this capacity and rendered the relevant assistance in the execution of his duties.

“I have the honour to inform Your Excellency,” the note read, “that by a decree of September 9 1878, the King, my august master, entrusted me with the post of Consul General in the Principality of Bulgaria. I enclose my letters of credence and I request Your Excellency to give the necessary orders for my recognition as Consul General and so that I can perform my duties and justify the trust of my King. I also have a letter from my government addressed to His Highness the Prince of Bulgaria and I will appreciate it if Your Excellency secures me an audience with His Highness. Allow me to add that it is a great honour for me to be accredited to the government of His Highness and my every effort will be directed towards the development of the relations between Bulgaria and Belgium. Respectfully yours, Camille Janssen.”

Although his title was only consul general, Janssen performed diplomatic functions, which is evident from his correspondence with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Religious Matters of the Principality of Bulgaria. The same year (1879) he handed his letters of credence to the Bulgarian Prince Alexander Battenberg who, according to the Bulgarian constitution, is a representative of the Principality in all its foreign relations.

On November 4 1880, Janssen was appointed diplomatic agent and consul general, which made him equal in rank with the diplomatic representatives of the Great powers in the Principality capital.

In 1883, owing the grown importance of the Black Sea ports for the trade of Bulgaria with Europe, the Belgian consulate in Rousse was relocated to the city of Varna, but several years later it was moved back.

Very soon after the Union of Eastern Roumelia and the Principality of Bulgaria, which took place on September 6, 1885, Belgium opened its consulate in Plovdiv, the second Bulgarian city in importance and former capital of Roumelia. On June 21 1886, Badjet was appointed Belgian consul in Plovdiv.

The diplomatic contacts between the two countries were very active in 1888, when Bulgaria took part in the International Exhibition in Brussels.

On November 1 1901, two years after Bulgaria proclaimed its independence (September 22 1908), Van der Heyde presented his letters of credence to the Bulgarian Tsar Ferdinand in his capacity of first envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of Belgium.

Already, in the first years after the establishment of diplomatic relations between Bulgaria and Belgium, the two countries signed a number of documents, agreements and conventions, which speak of the marked desire of their governments to develop these relations, as well as the trade and cultural exchange between the two countries. These are: Postal Convention of 1886; Trade Agreement of 1890; Convention on Extradition, concluded in Sofia on March 15 1908, ratified on May 14 1908, etc.

Of particular importance for the economic exchange between the two countries had the Trade and Maritime Agreement, concluded in Sofia on August 16 1908, for a term until February 20 1912, and ratified by the National Assembly on December 2 1908. Article one of this agreement read: “Between Bulgaria and Belgium there will be complete freedom of trade and navigation. The nationals of either country shall not be taxed for trade or industry in the ports, cities or elsewhere in the other country with duties, patents, or taxes under any name, other or higher than those collected from the local nationals.” Article five guaranteed the signatories reciprocally the status of most favoured nation in everything concerning trade and industry.

Just over a year after the signing of this major economic agreement, Bulgaria appointed its diplomatic representative to Belgium. The Bulgarian minister plenipotentiary in Paris Dimitar Stanchov became the first Bulgarian minister plenipotentiary in Belgium. He handed his letters of credence to King Albert on March 29 1910.