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Legal Problems of the German Eastern Treaties

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2017

Claus Arndt
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Extract

During the current political era, which has been marked by the attempts of the two superpowers to abate the economic and political burdens of their intercontinental and other “military build-up” through mutual dialogue (e.g., SALT, MBFR) and to achieve a certain détente in their relationship, a government came to power in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) after the 1969 parliamentary elections, whose declared goal was to make its own German contribution to help bring about a relaxation in international tensions, secure the peace in Central Europe, and make life there more tolerable for its inhabitants. The effort was all the more important because Germany was and is the only place on earth where the United States and the Soviet Union face each other directly. Initially, this political goal, securing the peace by relaxing tensions, was effected by the establishment of an extensive system of international treaties, usually between the Federal Republic of Germany on the one side, and the states of Eastern Europe with Communist governments on the other. Only to the extent that Berlin and the rights of the Allied powers of World War II were affected, were the three Western occupying powers (the United States, the United Kingdom, and France) included in the system of treaties, partly by exchanges of notes and partly directly (e.g., the Berlin Quadripartite Agreement).

Type
Research Article
Information
American Journal of International Law , Volume 74 , Issue 1 , January 1980 , pp. 122 - 133
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 1980

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References

1 [1972] BGB1.II 354.

2 830 UNTS 327.

3 Treaty on Old Age and Accident Insurance ([1976] BGB1.II 393); Treaty on Credit Financing ([1975] BGB1.II 566); Long–Term Program for the Development of Economic, Industrial and Technical Cooperation ([1975] BGB1.II 1740); and Protocol on Emigration (Parl. Doc. 7/4184, 4), all of October 9, 1975. Compare Arndt, Zu einigen Rechtsproblemen der deutsch-polnischen Vereinbarungen von 1975, 13 Recht und Politik 1 ff. (1977).

4 24 UST 283, TIAS No. 7551, reprinted in 10 ILM 895 (1971). See Doeker, Melsheimer, & Schröder, Berlin and the Quadripartite Agreement of 1971, 67 AJIL 44 (1973).

5 BAnz No. 174/72 (1972), reprinted in 11 ILM 5 (1972), together with the agreements numbered 5 and 6 in the text.

6 [1972] BGB1.II 1449, reprinted in 11 ILM 726 (1972).

7 [1973] BGB1.II 421, reprinted in 12 ILM 16 (1973).

8 Art. 23 and preamble of the Basic Law (Constitution). Here are listed the German territories in which the Constitution is effective “for the present.”

9 Article 146 of the Basic Law states that the Basic Law becomes ineffective on the day on which a new Constitution, freely concluded by the entire German people, becomes effective.

10 Compare C. Arndt, Die Vehträge von Moskau und Warschau (Bonn 1973), hereinafter cited as Vehträge (reviewed 72 AJIL 194 (1978)) and the following, also by Arndt: Rechtliche und politische Aspekte der deutschen Ostpolitik, 14 Österreichische Zeitschrift Für Aussenpolitik 395 ff. (1974); Les Aspects juridiques et politiques de la “Ostpolitik” Allemande de 1970 à 1976, 41 Politique Etrangére 269 ff. (1976); and De politiske og retslige sider of Tysklands “Ostpolitik” 1970/76, 31 Fremtiden 24 ff. (No. 4, 1976).

11 36 BVerfGE 1 (1974); 40 BVerfGE 141 (1976).

12 The Soviet Ambassador in Bonn even presented changes in wording desired by his Government (for particulars, see Verträge, supra note 5, at 59; compare further the letter of May 9, 1972, from the German Minister of Foreign Affairs, Walter Scheel, to the member of Parliament, Dr. Barzel (Bundestag Minutes (186th mtg.), 6th Sess. 10,908–10,909 (1972)).

13 Umdruck 287, Bundestag Minutes (187th mtg., Add. 6), 6th Sess. 10,960 (1972).

14 Völkerrechtliche Aspekte des deutsch-sowietischen Vertragswerkes vom 12.8.1970, 31 Zeitschrift Für Ausländisches Öffentliches Recht Und Völkerrecht 63, 113– 14 (1971).

15 Art. 4 of the Moscow Treaty, Art. IV of the Warsaw Treaty, and Art. 9 of the Fundamentals Treaty with the GDR.

16 June 3, 1972 (BGB1.II 651).

17 Second item of the response of the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany of February 22, 1972 (Parl. Doc. VI/3172) to the Kleine Anfrage (minor request) from certain members of the opposition (Parl. Doc. VI/3112), as well as the first item in the Resolution of the Legal Committee of the Bundestag, Report of the Member of Parliament for Hamburg, Dr. Arndt (Parl. Doc. VI/3396).

18 Therefore, the Polish authors who view the issue as legally resolved are in error and misconstrue exactly what the Federal Republic is legally capable of doing (e.g., Frelek, Die Normalisierungsgrundlage, in Volksrepublik Polen—Bundesrepublik Deutschland 21 ff. (ed. Rachocki, Poznan 1972); Kokot, Die Normalisierung der Beziehungen zwischen der VR Polen und der BRD, id. at 78 ff.; Skubiszewski, Die Westgrenze Polens aus der Sicht der Verträge vom Jahre 1970, id. at 70 ff.; and Sutek, Grundrichtungen der politischen und rechtlichen Interpretation des VRP-BRD-Vertrages vom 7.12.1970, id. at 115 ff.). Compare also L. Gelberg, Normalizacja Stasunkow PRL-RFN 48, 67 (Warsaw 1978); Janicki, Legal Problems Involved in the Realization by the Federal Republic of Germany of the Treaty with Poland dated 7th December 1970, 18 Polish Western Aff. 76 (1977), and Podstawowe Instytucje Prawa o Obywatelstwie w RFN, Pbzeglad Zachodni 2 ff. (1978); K. Skubiszewski, Der Diplomatische Schutz Des Staatsbürgers, Staatsangehörigkeit, Soziale Grundrechte, Wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit 112 (Opeln, Berlin, New York 1976) and The Great Powers and the Settlement in Central Europe, 18 Jahrbuch Für Internationales Recht 92 (1976).

19 Compare, e.g., D. P. O’Connor, The Status of Formosa and the Law 50, 407 (1956) in which he refers to the declaration as “a policy statement”; on the other hand, A. von der Heydte & Strupp-Schlochauer, 2 Wörterbuch des Völkerrechts (2d ed. Berlin 1961); J. Hacker, Sowjetunion und DDR Zum Potsdamer Abkommen (2d ed. Cologne 1969); F. Faust, Das Potsdamer Abkommen und Seine Völkerrechtliche Bedeutung (Berlin 1964); and many more.

20 UN Doc. A/RES/2625 (XXV) 1970.

21 Art. 3 of the Moscow Treaty, Art. I , para. 2 of the Warsaw Treaty, Art. IV of the Prague Treaty, Art. 3, para. 2 of the Fundamentals Treaty.

22 Parl. Doc. VI/3397, at 14, Apps. 1 and 2.

23 Art. 3 of the Moscow Treaty, Art. I, para. 3 of the Warsaw Treaty, Art. IV, para. 2 of the Prague Treaty.

24 Art. 23 of the Basic Law (Constitution).

25 Art. 1, para. 2 of the Constitution of Berlin of September 1, 1950 (VOB1.I 443): “Berlin is a Federal State of the Federal Republic of Germany.”

26 Art. 2 of the Treaty of 1952/1954; item 4 of the Military Governors’ Consent Declaration to the Basic Law of May 12, 1949 (VOB1. der Britischen Zone 216); Allied Kommandantura Ratification of the Berlin Constitution BK/O (50) 75, of August 29, 1950 (VOB1. for Berlin I 440); and pt. HB of the Quadripartite Agreement of September 3, 1971, 127 Bulletin des Presse–und Informationsamtes Der Bundesregierung 1360 (1971).

27 E.g., Transit Traffic Agreement of December 17, 1971, and Agreement on Travel and Visiting Regulations of December 20, 1971.

28 Paras. 4 and 6 of the preamble to the Quadripartite Agreement.