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Abstract

At the end of August 1954, the French National Assembly failed to ratify the European Defense Community Treaty. But this only represented a brief setback for the project of integrating a West German defense contribution into European structures, since the French voted instead for the formation of a Western European Union (WEU) with an arms control system that included the Federal Republic. They also opened the door for West Germany to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). On October 23, 1954, the following protocol was signed in Paris. For the Federal Republic, the Bonn-Paris Conventions meant an end to the occupation regime and the acquisition of expanded sovereignty vis-à-vis the Germany Treaty of May 1952. Within the framework of its accession to the WEU and NATO, the government of the Federal Republic accepted restrictions on rearmament, including the renunciation of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons.

Protocol on the Accession of the Federal Republic of Germany to the North Atlantic Treaty (Paris, October 23, 1954)

Source

The Parties to the North Atlantic Treaty signed at Washington on 4th April, 1949,

Being satisfied that the security of the North Atlantic area will be enhanced by the accession of the Federal Republic of Germany to that Treaty, and

Having noted that the Federal Republic of Germany has by a declaration dated 3rd October, 1954, accepted the obligations set forth in Article 2 of the Charter of the United Nations and has undertaken upon its accession to the North Atlantic Treaty to refrain from any action inconsistent with the strictly defensive character of that Treaty, and

Having further noted that all member governments have associated themselves with the declaration also made on 3rd October, 1954, by the Governments of the United States of America, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the French Republic in connection with the aforesaid declaration of the Federal Republic of Germany,

Agree as follows:

Article I

Upon the entry into force of the present Protocol, the Government of the United States of America shall on behalf of all the Parties communicate to the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany an invitation to accede to the North Atlantic Treaty. Thereafter the Federal Republic of Germany shall become a Party to that Treaty on the date when it deposits its instruments of accession with the Government of the United States of America in accordance with Article 10 of that Treaty.

Article II

The present Protocol shall enter into force, when

(a) each of the Parties to the North Atlantic Treaty has notified to the Government of the United States of America its acceptance thereof,

(b) all instruments of ratification of the Protocol Modifying and Completing the Brussels Treaty have been deposited with the Belgian Government, and

(c) all instruments of ratification or approval of the Convention on the Presence of Foreign Forces in the Federal Republic of Germany have been deposited with the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany. The Government of the United States of America shall inform the other Parties to the North Atlantic Treaty of the date of the receipt of each notification of acceptance of the present Protocol and of the date of the entry into force of the present Protocol.

Article III

The present Protocol, of which the English and French texts are equally authentic, shall be deposited in the archives of the Government of the United States of America. Duly certified copies thereof shall be transmitted by that Government to the Governments of the other Parties to the North Atlantic Treaty.

In witness whereof, the undersigned Representatives, duly authorised thereto by their respective Governments, have signed the present Protocol.

Signed at Paris the twenty-third day of October nineteen hundred and fifty-four.

For Belgium: P. H. Spaak

For Canada: L. B. Pearson

For Denmark: H. C. Hansen

For France: P. Mendes-France

For Greece: S. Stephanopoulos

For Iceland: Kristinn Gudmundson

For Italy: G. Martino

For the Grand-Duchy of Luxemburg: Jos Bech

For Netherlands: J. W. Beyen

For Norway: Halvard Lange

For Portugal: Paulo Cunha

For Turkey: F. Köprülü

For the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland: Anthony Eden

For the United States of America: John Foster Dulles

Source: Protocol to the North Atlantic Treaty on the Accession of the Federal Republic of Germany (October 23, 1954); reprinted in Documents on Germany, 1944–1959: Background Documents on Germany, 1944–1959, and a Chronology of Political Developments affecting Berlin, 1945–1956. Washington, DC: General Printing Office, 1959, pp. 142–43.