Relations between the two states in Germany: problems and prospects

Abstract

In September 1987 General Secretary Erich Honecker visited the Federal Republic of Germany at the invitation of the Federal Chancellor, Helmut Kohl. This first official visit by the leader of the other German state was naturally a moving event for people in Germany. Not only in Germany was the visit interpreted, speculated over and argued about. The Soviet Union and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) tried in their official statements to present Mr Honecker's visit as final confirmation of the division of Germany. At the same time there were some who felt that the visit was the start of an extensive rapprochement between the two states in Germany and possibly even a step towards restoring German unity. Also in the West, some observers questioned whether the Federal Republic was immune to the temptation of loosening its ties with the West for the sake of its national interests. There was uneasiness as to whether Germans were embarking on a separate course, with unforeseeable consequences for balance and security in Europe. Let me state quite clearly here that neither interpretation is correct. The visit by Mr Honecker did not change the state of affairs in Germany, nor does it justify fears about a separate German course being pursued to solve the 'German Question'. The visit was no more and no less than a clearly visible step in the relationship between the two states in Germany, whose special nature was defined in a treaty 15 years ago. In the Treaty on the Basis of Relations between the two states, concluded on 21 December 1972, the Federal Republic recognized the GDR as a state possessing autonomy in its internal and external affairs and declared its readiness to develop good-neighbourly relations with it. At the same time, however, it reaffirmed that it adheres to the goal of restoring German unity. It does not therefore regard the GDR as a foreign state, but as a state in Germany. The people in the GDR are not foreigners but Germans who, though living under a different political system, belong to the same nation. The treaty with the GDR formed part of the series of treaties which the Federal Republic concluded with the East European countries, based on an awareness of the fact that a peace settlement involving German reunification was not feasible in the near future. Instead we had to realize that we shall have to live for the time being with the present situation in Europe, and specifically in Germany. It is therefore necessary to concentrate our political forces on a modus vivendi that makes this situation more bearable. Specifically for Germany and the Germans, this means that we are not abandoning the goal enshrined in our constitution, which states that the entire German people are