Basic contract

Basic contract or basic contract is the abbreviation for the contract on the basis of relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic . It was closed on December 21, 1972, ratified on May 11 (Federal Republic) and June 13, 1973 (GDR) and came into force on June 21, 1973.

Chronological overview of the Eastern Treaties, 1963–1973

history

Press conference after the contract was signed on December 21, 1972. Egon Bahr (left) and Michael Kohl answer questions from journalists.

The basic treaty was preceded by a number of other treaties within the framework of the new Ostpolitik . Under Federal Chancellor Willy Brandt , this heralded a turnaround from the Hallstein Doctrine to the domestic German policy of “change through rapprochement”. On August 12, 1970 a treaty between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Soviet Union was concluded ( Moscow Treaty ), on December 7, 1970 with the People's Republic of Poland ( Warsaw Treaty ), and on September 3, 1971, the Four Power Agreement on Berlin was concluded as a supplementary agreement to the Federal Republic and the GDR had the transit agreement on the transit between West Berlin and the Federal Republic and the contract of travel facilities closed. According to the basic agreement, the Prague agreement was signed with the ČSSR on December 11, 1973 .

The negotiations on the basic treaty were conducted by the State Secretary in the Federal Chancellery (and later Federal Minister for Special Tasks ) Egon Bahr - for the Federal Republic of Germany - and the State Secretary Michael Kohl - for the GDR . The contract was then signed by both of them on December 21, 1972 in East Berlin .

The treaty negotiations progressed with difficulty, as the GDR initially only agreed to negotiate if the German Democratic Republic was recognized under international law after the treaty was concluded . The social-liberal coalition could not meet this demand , as it would have violated the reunification requirement in the Basic Law. The Federal Republic of Germany therefore only recognized the GDR under constitutional law until the end , even if its status as a subject under international law was confirmed by the Federal Constitutional Court . In the Moscow and Warsaw treaties the Federal Republic reaffirmed the status quo and the state sovereignty of the GDR. After the Moscow Treaty had been signed, Walter Ulbricht allowed negotiations without any preconditions.

agreement

The treaty on the foundations of relations between the Federal Republic and the GDR consists of ten articles:

Article 1 stipulates the development of good neighborly relations on an equal basis.
In Article 2, the two states commit themselves to the principles of the United Nations.
In Article 3, they undertake to refrain from using force in the settlement of disputes and to respect mutual borders. The "inviolability of borders" does not, however, rule out a change in borders by mutual agreement.
Article 4 states that neither of the two states can represent the other internationally.
In Article 5, the two states promise that they will participate in the process of security and cooperation in Europe and support disarmament efforts.
In Article 6, the two states agree that sovereignty is limited to their own national territory and that they respect each other's autonomy and independence in internal and external affairs.
Article 7 envisages cooperation agreements in a number of areas (including business, science, postal and telecommunications, culture and sport).
In Article 8 the exchange of permanent representatives is agreed.
Article 9 states that the contract does not affect previous contracts.
Article 10 regulates ratification and entry into force.

The contracting parties could not agree on a regulation of the outstanding property issues.

Before signing the treaties, Egon Bahr handed over the "Letter on German Unity", in which it was stated that the treaty " does not contradict the political goal of the Federal Republic of Germany to work towards a state of peace in Europe in which the German People regained their unity in free self-determination. "

Resistances

The basic treaty was politically and legally controversial. The CDU / CSU - faction had reservations about the contract because it did not include essential points: For example, he was not subject to the reservation of an aspired peace treaty provided, no regulations have been on the status of Berlin met, and the rights and responsibilities of the Four Powers were not mentioned. Human relief would not be adequately safeguarded and concepts such as the unity of the nation, freedom and human rights would not be dealt with or only insufficiently.

However, the treaty was ratified by the German Bundestag with 268 votes to 217 . In the Federal Council , it was rejected by the majority of the CDU / CSU-governed countries. However, since a referral to the Mediation Committee was not resolved, the law was passed.

Federal Constitutional Court

On May 22, 1973, three days before the debate on the ratification of the Basic Treaty in the Federal Council, the Bavarian State Government decided to have it examined by the Federal Constitutional Court . On May 28, she then started the norm-control process . In the justification it was criticized that the contract violated the constitutional reunification requirement and the duty of care towards Germans in the German Democratic Republic, since no more interventions could take place to protect them. In addition, it only applies to a limited extent to Berlin. The Constitutional Court dismissed the lawsuit on July 31, 1973, barely 10 weeks after it was filed, and decided that the contract was compatible with the Basic Law, albeit only in a relatively narrow constitutional interpretation. In its judgment it expressed itself in detail and fundamentally on the continued existence of the German state , i. H. the status quo as it had developed since 1945. The Federal Republic of that time was therefore not the legal successor, but rather identical to the German Reich as a subject of international law (but only partially identical in terms of spatial extent).

In the reasons for the decision, it was stated that the recognition of the GDR agreed with the Basic Treaty was a "factual recognition of a special kind". The Basic Law forbids definitive recognition of the division of Germany, and keeping open a possible all-German future is a constitutional obligation of the West German state. All Germans have only one German citizenship , which is anchored in the constitution . The reunification requirement is not just a political declaration of intent, but continues to bind all constitutional organs . The path to reunification, however, is left to the politicians. In addition to the existing “an additional new legal basis [...], which was intended to bind the two states in Germany more closely than normal international treaties between two states”, the treaty itself formed .

This interpretation by the Federal Constitutional Court played a not insignificant role in the establishment of German unity in 1990. It was made easier by the retained citizenship for all Germans and the possibility of the GDR joining the scope of the Basic Law under Article 23 of the Basic Law .

consequences

1973: The flags of the Federal Republic and the GDR in front of the UN headquarters in New York City

On May 2, 1974, the permanent representations began their work. Günter Gaus was accredited as permanent representative of the Federal Republic to the GDR , and Michael Kohl was accredited as permanent representative of the GDR in the Federal Republic of Germany .

Both states agreed that they would apply for membership in the United Nations . On September 18, 1973, they were finally accepted as the 133rd and 134th member.

The following individual contracts were concluded in the following years:

April 25, 1974 Agreement on Health Services
March 30, 1976 Agreement on Postal and Telecommunications
September 16, 1978 Agreement on the construction of a motorway between Hamburg and Berlin
November 29, 1978 Government protocol on the "review, renewal and addition of the marking of the existing border between the Federal Republic and the GDR"
December 21, 1979 Agreement on veterinary cooperation
April 30, 1980 Agreement on the construction of a motorway between Berlin and Herleshausen , the expansion of the Mittelland Canal and the double-track expansion of the rail link between Berlin and Helmstedt

literature

Werner Weidenfeld , Karl-Rudolf Korte (ed.): Handbook on German unity. 1949-1989-1999. Updated new edition. Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1999, ISBN 3-593-36240-6 .
Jörg Menzel (Ed.): Constitutional case law. Hundreds of decisions by the Federal Constitutional Court in retrospect. Edited by Thomas Ackermann , Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2000, ISBN 3-161-47315-9 .

Web links

Text of the contract at chronik-der-mauer.de

Agreement on the Basics of Relations between the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic of December 21, 1972 at documentArchiv.de

Judgment of the Federal Constitutional Court on the Basic Treaty , BVerfGE 36, 1 ff. - 2 BvF 1/73 - of July 31, 1973

BStU , topic contribution: "Normal good neighborly relations" - the basic contract between the FRG and the GDR

Individual evidence

↑ See AAPD 1973, I, Doc. 38, Note 21 and Doc. 85, Note 6–8 .
↑ See Heinrich August Winkler : The long way to the west , Vol. 2. German history from the “Third Reich” to reunification. 4th, through Ed., Munich 2002, p. 313 f.
↑ BVerfGE 36, 1
^ Robert Chr. Van Ooyen, Martin HW Möllers, Handbook of the Federal Constitutional Court in the Political System , Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2006, ISBN 978-3-658-05703-9 , p. 91.

[1] See AAPD 1973, I, Doc. 38, Note 21 and Doc. 85, Note 6–8 .

[2] See Heinrich August Winkler : The long way to the west , Vol. 2. German history from the “Third Reich” to reunification. 4th, through Ed., Munich 2002, p. 313 f.

[3] BVerfGE 36, 1

[4] Robert Chr. Van Ooyen, Martin HW Möllers, Handbook of the Federal Constitutional Court in the Political System , Springer VS, Wiesbaden 2006, ISBN 978-3-658-05703-9 , p. 91.