France and Germany’s differing approaches to NATO

A look back into history

by Cyrille Schott, Préfet de Region (h), and Board Member of EuroDefénse-France, Strasbourg

Joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in differ- ent postures, from the beginning France and Germany did not have the same approach to NATO, the military organisation of the Transatlantic Alliance, and this continues today.

Diverging approaches from the beginning

France signed the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949 and thus belonged to the founding members of the Atlantic Alliance. It actively contributed, notably at the Lisbon Conference in 1952, to the politico-military structuring of the alliance, NATO. It hosted NATO's headquarters in Paris. It was not, however, in direct con- tact with Soviet-dominated Europe. Being a permanent member of the UN Security Council, it was also a power with global inter- ests, still in possession of a colonial empire.

The Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) acceded to the North Atlantic Treaty in 1955, following the Paris Agreement of 1954. Faced with the Soviet danger, this accession responded to the American will for German rearmament and came after the fail- ure of the European Defence Community on 30 August 1954. For Chancellor Adenauer, rearmament and NATO membership meant the return of sovereignty to Germany, the loser of the war. The Paris Agreement put an end to the occupation regime and recognised “the full authority of a sovereign state” to the FRG; the Three Powers (France, UK and the US) nevertheless retaining their rights regarding Germany as a whole until the reunification.

Two armies with a different relation to NATO

The West German Army was built as a NATO army, under the direct command of NATO and, until the end of the cold war, with- out a General Staff of its own. The FRG has also undertaken not to manufacture any atomic, chemical, or biological weapons. This army, under the tight control of parliament (Bundestag), was on the front line against the Warsaw Pact armies and had no military involvement elsewhere. NATO, with the presence of American troops, appeared to be a fundamental guarantee of security of Western Germany.

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