Bulgaria–Serbia relations
Bulgarian-Serbian relations are foreign relations between Bulgaria and Serbia. They established diplomatic relations on 18 January 1879 as the Principality of Serbia (independent) and Principality of Bulgaria (vassal of the Ottoman Empire which exercised de facto independence). Bulgaria has an embassy in Belgrade. Serbia has an embassy in Sofia. Bulgaria is a European Union member state and Serbia is a European Union candidate.
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Both countries are full members of the Southeast European Cooperation Process, of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, of the Central European Initiative, of the Southeast European Cooperative Initiative and of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation. The countries share 318 km of common borderline.
Bulgaria recognized Kosovo[a] as an independent country in 2008, which temporarily strained relations between two nations, however the two countries enjoy good cooperation in the area of culture, as seen in the examples of co-production of Serbian movies.[1]
History
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In 1867, a Bulgarian society, active in Bucharest approached the Serbian state with a draft-agreement. The Bulgarian side proposed the founding of a common Serbo-Bulgarian (Bulgaro-Serbian) dual state called South Slav Tsardom, headed by the Serbian Prince. Serbian Prime minister Garašanin accepted the Bulgarian proposal in a letter from June 1867, but he diplomatically refused to sign the document, fearing how representative this organisation had been.[2] The establishment of this common state concerned other Bulgarian organisations, which perceived it as an implementation of Garašanin's plan called Načertanije.[3][4]
In 2018, Serbia and Bulgaria celebrated 140 years of diplomatic relations.[5][6]
Country comparison
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Population | 7,000,039 | 7,001,444 (excluding Kosovo) |
Area | 110,993.6 km² (42,823 sq mi) | 88,361 km² (34,116 sq mi ) (including Kosovo) 77,474 km2 (29,913 sq mi) (excluding Kosovo) |
Population Density | 64.9 /km² (185 /sq mi) | 91,1/km2 (238/sq mi) |
Capital | Sofia | Belgrade |
Largest City | Sofia - 1,238,438 (1,681,592 Metro) | Belgrade - 1,233,796 (1,683,962 Metro) |
Government | Parliamentary republic | Parliamentary republic |
Current leader | President Rumen Radev Prime Minister Boyko Borisov |
President Aleksandar Vučić Prime Minister Ana Brnabić |
Official languages | Bulgarian | Serbian |
Main religions | 82.64% Eastern Orthodox Christians, 12.20% Islam, 0.55% Catholic Christians, 0.53% Protestant Christians, 0.19% Other, 3.57% Does not self-identify, 0.31% Not shown |
84.59% Eastern Orthodoxy, 4.97% Catholicism, 3.10% Islam, 0.99% Protestantism, 1.11% No religion, 5.24% others (excluding Kosovo) |
Ethnic groups | 84% Bulgarians, 9% Turkish, 5% Roma and 2% other groups |
83.3% Serbs, 3.5% Hungarians, 2.1% Roma, 2% Bosniaks, 9% other groups (excluding Kosovo) |
GDP (nominal) | $64.962 billion ($9,267 per capita)[7] | $50.651 billion ($7,243 per capita) (excluding Kosovo)[7] |
See also
Notes
a. | ^ Kosovo is the subject of a territorial dispute between the Republic of Kosovo and the Republic of Serbia. The Republic of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence on 17 February 2008, but Serbia continues to claim it as part of its own sovereign territory. The two governments began to normalise relations in 2013, as part of the 2013 Brussels Agreement. Kosovo is currently recognized as an independent state by 97 out of the 193 United Nations member states. In total, 112 UN member states recognized Kosovo at some point, of which 15 later withdrew their recognition. |
References
- FoNet, Piše (26 June 2019). "Filmski centar: Bugari finansiraju dva filma iz Srbije sa 200.000 evra". Dnevni list Danas (in Serbian). Retrieved 26 June 2019.
- Papadrianos, Ioannis: “The First Balkan Alliance (1860–1868) and the Bulgarians,” Balkan Studies, 42 (2001): pp. 15–20.
- Crampton 1987, p. 16 : "...a Balkan alliance, which alarmed both Bulgarians and Turks with its implications of Serbian expansionism as expounded two decades previously, in Garasanin's Nacertanie, the Serbian equivalent of Greek Megali Idea."
- SANU 1993, p. 172 : "The result of Nacertumje's implementation was the establishment of the first Balkan alliance (1866–1868)..."
- Jovanović, Radomir (20 April 2018). "Srpsko-bugarski diplomatski odnosi: u osvit prvih 140 godina". CMJP (in Serbian). Retrieved 1 July 2019.
- К, А. "Сто четрдесет година дипломатских односа Бугарске и Србије". Politika Online. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
- "Report for Bulgaria and Serbia". International Monetary Fund. April 2019. Retrieved 2 July 2019.
Sources and further reading
- Antić, Dejan D. "A view of Serbian-Bulgarian relations at the end of the 19th and at the beginning of the 20th century." Godišnjak Pedagoškog fakulteta u Vranju 7 (2016): 55-67.
- Hering, Gunnar. "Serbian-Bulgarian relations on the eve of and during the Balkan Wars.} Balkan Studies (1962) 4#2 pp 297-326.
- Radojević, Mira; Mićić, Srđan B. (2015). "Serbian Orthodox Church cooperation and frictions with Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and Bulgarian Exarchate during interwar period". Studia academica šumenesia. 2: 126‒143.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Rossos, Andrew. "Serbian-Bulgarian Relations, 1903-1914." Canadian Slavonic Papers 23.4 (1981) pp 347-378. and 394-408 .
- Agatonović, Rad. (1899). "Односи између Србије и Блгарске" (in Serbian). Kingdom of Serbia. Archived from the original on 11 August 2014.