e
bodies as well as the activities of the people's councils.

Although the legal decisions passed by the council must be submitted for
approval to the next session of the Grand National Assembly, they take
effect as law immediately on passage by the council or on a date
specified in the ruling itself. In the event of a national emergency the
Council of State can also exercise the assembly's power to declare a
state of war, subject to the same qualifications imposed upon the
assembly--that is, in the event that Romania or one of its allies is the
victim of external armed aggression.

In December 1967 PCR General Secretary Ceausescu was elected president
of the Council of State by the Grand National Assembly and, by virtue of
this position, became the head of state. The reason given for the
concentration of the principal party and government positions in
Ceausescu's hands was the desire to provide unitary leadership both as a
means of efficiency and of ensuring full party control at the highest
level of the government. The decision to unite the two posts, as well as
to combine a number of party and government positions on lower
administrative levels, had been taken at a national party conference a
few days earlier and followed action taken by the PCR Central Committee
in October. Outside observers saw the move as one of a series of steps
designed to ensure the continued subordination of the state apparatus to
the party.

In March 1970 the Grand National Assembly voted to establish the Defense
Council, to be headed by Ceausescu and responsible to the Council of
State. The formation of the Defense Council, which was given
decisionmaking powers for high-level military affairs, served to
strengthen Council of State control over the armed forces and further
enhance Ceausescu's personal authority. The same legislation that
established the Defense Council also decreed that foreign troops could
not enter Romania under any circumstances without the prior approval of
the assembly. Coming in the aftermath of the Soviet-led invasion of
Czechoslovakia, observers of Eastern European affairs interpreted this
ruling as a means of preventing any dissident group from inviting
foreign intervention on the pretext of preserving orthodox communist
rule.

The membership of the Defense Council reflected the importance given it.
Besides the head of state, other members of the council include the
prime minister, the minister of the armed forc