German-Dutch border issue

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German-Dutch border issue

The German-Dutch border question concerns the area of ​​the Ems - estuary on the state border between Germany and the Netherlands at the transition from the dollar to the North Sea . While the Netherlands regard the Talweg as their border, Germany takes the position that the state border runs on the left bank of the Ems.

Background and history

The disputed coastal area lies between the province of Groningen and the historical region of East Friesland , the north-western part of Lower Saxony .

A closed territorial rule was formed in East Frisia on October 1, 1464, when Ulrich Cirksena in the monastery of Faldern from Emperor Friedrich III. was raised to the status of imperial count and enfeoffed with East Friesland as an imperial county. In the feudal letter it is said literally that the imperial county includes

“Wonung, wesen und sloss Norden, Emeden, Emesgonien, with the sloss Gretzil, Berum, Aurike, Lerort and Stickhusen, who come across us from the Westeremse easterwards bit to the Weser, from the sea zuwert bit to the german palen.”

"Apartment, property and castle in the north , Emden , Emsgau , with the Greetsiel , Berum , Aurich , Leerort and Stickhausen castles , which stretch from the Westerems eastwards to the Weser, from the sea to the German border."

Although the Cirksena were never able to fully enforce the claim to power documented here - the Harlingerland has only been part of East Friesland since 1600, and the Butjadinger - as well as the Jeverland were finally lost in 1529 and 1575 and fell to Oldenburg  - Germany invokes this document and asserts it that the counts and princes of East Friesland and their legal successors exercised sovereignty over the entire Ems without interruption. The question first became relevant under international law after the Thirty Years War , when the Netherlands formally withdrew from the Union of the Holy Roman Empire as part of the Peace of Westphalia on January 30, 1648 in the Peace of Munster . The territorial status quo is expressly set out in this agreement . The Principality of East Friesland came under the influence of the Netherlands through internal power struggles and leaned closely to it politically, culturally and economically. The Netherlands stationed troops in central locations, including in the fortress Leerort near Leer and in Emden . The border question thus had no practical significance.

After the East Frisian dynasty and dynasty died out, the Prussian King Frederick the Great immediately and unhindered took possession of the principality and immediately had it occupied from Emden. The Dutch garrisons were withdrawn shortly afterwards. The demarcation in the area of ​​the Outer Ems remained open. During the Napoleonic campaigns of conquest, East Frisia was incorporated into the Kingdom of Holland in 1806 after the battle of Jena and Auerstedt . This annexation was recognized by Prussia in the Peace of Tilsit in 1807 .

On July 9, 1810, the Ems-Oriental department (Ostems, Dutch: Oostereems, formerly also Ooster-Eems) became part of the French Empire. The western East Frisia (Rheiderland) was spun off from East Frisia due to old Dutch claims and added to the Dutch department Ems-Occidental with the capital Groningen; the Ostems department received the lordships of Jever and Kniphausen with Varel . After the collapse of Napoleonic rule, the Prussians again moved in from 1813 to 1815, and the old national borders were re-established, but without regulating the course in the coastal area.

The territorial order of Europe was redefined at the Congress of Vienna . Prussia had to cede East Frisia to the Kingdom of Hanover . There it says:

“The King of Prussia cedes the Principality of East Friesland to the King of Great Britain and Hanover under the conditions mutually stipulated in Article 5 on Ems shipping and trade in the Emden port. The estates of the principality will retain their rights and privileges. "

- Final Act of the Congress of Vienna : Article 27

A few years later, on July 2, 1824, a border treaty was concluded between the Kingdom of Hanover and that of the Netherlands in Meppen, which has since formed the basis for the border on the mainland and in southern Dollard . On the other hand, no agreements were made in the contract about the further course of the border in the Dollart, in the Ems estuary and in the territorial sea. This did not change when East Frisia came back to Prussia after the German War through the annexation of the Kingdom of Hanover in 1866 and with it became part of the German Empire in 1871 .

After the Second World War , the Netherlands planned to annex large areas along the German-Dutch border from 1945 onwards . In East Friesland this included the "mouth of the Ems from the exit of the Dollart to the open sea on both sides of Borkum , the island of Borkum, the coastal strip on the German bank from the Knock to Pilsum, the previously German part of the Dollart and the Rheiderland ". With this plan, however, the Netherlands failed before the Allied High Commission . In the Paris Six Power Agreement of March 22, 1949, the Netherlands was responsible for the administration of the areas of Selfkant (with several localities) and Elten as well as other smaller strips of territory along the German-Dutch border from December 31, 1937 to completion of a peace treaty. Since 1950, the federal government had endeavored to return these areas and the tract lands. The latter were agricultural areas on both sides of the German-Dutch border, the use of which was regulated by the treaties between the Netherlands and Prussia of 1816 (Treaty of Kleve) and with Hanover of 1824 (Treaty of Meppen). After the end of the war, the lands of German owners on Dutch territory, like the rest of the German property, were transferred to the Dutch state as enemy property and some of them were sold again, while the Dutch farmers continued to exercise their treaty rights on their lands on the German border. On April 5, 1957, the German-Dutch compromise negotiations on border issues, the consequences of war and other problems began in Bonn. They culminated in the treaty concluded on April 8, 1960 between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Kingdom of the Netherlands to regulate border issues and other problems existing between the two countries (Compensation Treaty) . In part of this treaty, the treaty between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Kingdom of the Netherlands on the regulation of cooperation in the mouth of the Ems , both states expressly reserved their legal positions on the course of the state border. Article 46 (1) states:

“The provisions of this treaty do not affect the question of the course of the state border in the mouth of the Ems. Each contracting party reserves its legal position in this respect. "

The Emskommission was formed to settle controversial issues. It consists of three Emskommissaren and further experts from the German and Dutch transport ministries and water engineering authorities. This contract was subsequently amended several times. On May 14, 1962, a supplementary agreement was signed by both sides, which regulates the tracing and extraction of mineral resources in the contract area. This was followed by a contract on joint information and advice for shipping in the mouth of the Ems through land radar and area radio systems (December 9, 1980), the Ems-Dollart cooperation agreement (September 10, 1984) and an Ems-Dollart environmental protocol of August 22, 1996 which directly supplements the contract text from 1960. To regulate shipping in the disputed area, the shipping regulations for the Ems estuary were adopted on December 22, 1986 and came into force on October 1, 1989.

Current status

Contract area of ​​the "Ems-Dollart-Treaty" of April 8, 1960

As before, the state border for the Ems estuary below Emden is not determined by international law. Several contracts regulate the respective competencies. The most important of these is the agreement between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Kingdom of the Netherlands on the regulation of cooperation in the mouth of the Ems (" Ems Dollart Treaty ") of April 8, 1960, in which the two states agreed in the area of ​​the mouth of the Ems in "spirit good neighborliness ”to ensure the seaward connection of their ports ( Eemshaven , Delfzijl , Emden , Leer and Papenburg ).

The question became acute again in 2011 when it came to the approval of the new offshore wind farm Riffgat off the island of Borkum . Approved by German authorities for German waters, but perhaps located in the controversial waters zones, talks with the Netherlands became topical again.

In August 2013, the start of new contract negotiations from autumn 2013 was announced. The international agreement was initialed on September 4, 2014 and signed by Foreign Ministers Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Bert Koenders on October 24, 2014 . The State Treaty contains regulations for the economic use and management of the territorial sea between the three and twelve nautical mile boundaries. The question of the borderline remains open. The new treaty defines a line of responsibility. There “the Germans on one side and the Dutch on the other side should have the say.” Responsibility includes construction activities, the mining of raw materials, the management of the fairway and the maritime traffic management. The contract came into force on June 10, 2016.

Importance of the conflict

Despite the dispute over the course of the German-Dutch border in the border waters, a pragmatic approach to the common border is possible inland in this area. For example, to the south of the Dutch A7 between Bad Nieuweschans and Bunde, the Bunderneuland petrol station and service area was built on German territory. Regular use of the Dutch A7 by the German police does not cause any problems in practice.

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ History of the Regions: Ostfriesland , on niedersachsen.de
  2. ^ Heinrich Schmidt: Political history of East Frisia . In: Ostfriesland im Schutz des Deiches , Volume 5, Leer 1975, p. 63
  3. ^ Christoph Ohlig: Ostfriesland and the state of Oldenburg in the protection of the dykes and other water-historical contributions. 2005, ISBN 3-8334-1503-7 , p. 3
  4. ^ Eckart Krömer, Heino Schmidt, Hajo van Lengen : Ostfriesland . Series of publications by the Lower Saxony State Center for Political Education, Leer 1987, p. 68
  5. ^ Walter Deeters: Small State and Province. General history of modern times . In: Karl-Ernst Behre, Hajo van Lengen: Ostfriesland. History and shape of a cultural landscape . Ostfriesische Landschaft, Aurich 1995, ISBN 3-925365-85-0 , p. 167
  6. ^ Daniel-Erasmus Khan: The German state borders. Legal history basics and open legal questions . 2004, ISBN 3-16-148403-7 , p. 421
  7. ^ Hermann Aubin, Eberhard Menzel: The Dutch claims on the mouth of the Ems . Hamburg undated, p. 8
  8. ^ Cabinet minutes online: 165th cabinet meeting on January 9, 1957 , at bundesarchiv.de, accessed on September 16, 2014
  9. ↑ Boundary adjustment: debt of honor . In: Der Spiegel . No. 33 , 1958 ( online ).
  10. ↑ Text of the treaty (es) between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Kingdom of the Netherlands on the settlement of border issues and other problems existing between the two countries (compensation and border treaty)
  11. ^ The Ems-Dollart contract of April 8, 1960 (PDF) on niedersachsen.de, accessed on January 12, 2013
  12. ↑ Here quoted from Daniel-Erasmus Khan: The German State Borders. Legal history basics and open legal questions . 2004, ISBN 3-16-148403-7 , p. 418
  13. ↑ Change in the Emskommission (PDF) Press release of the Federal Waterways and Shipping Administration and the Northwest Waterways and Shipping Directorate from August 1, 2006 (PDF; 98 kB)
  14. ^ Supplementary agreement to the Ems-Dollart-Treaty of May 14, 1962 (PDF) on niedersachsen.de, accessed on January 12, 2014
  15. ^ German-Dutch dispute - Holland rejects German wind turbines , taz , July 11, 2008, accessed on November 9, 2012
  16. ^ Ems-Dollart: German-Dutch contract initialed ( memento of October 22, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on October 26, 2014
  17. ↑ Germany and the Netherlands sign Ems-Dollart-Treaty , accessed on October 26, 2014
  18. ^ Lower Saxony paves the way for the German-Dutch State Treaty , European Information Center Lower Saxony, August 14, 2013
  19. ↑ bgbl.de (PDF)

Coordinates: 53 ° 19 ′ 48.2 ″  N , 6 ° 59 ′ 48.9 ″  E