Two Plus Four Treaty (1990): The Final Settlement on Germany

The Two Plus Four Treaty, formally the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany, was signed in Moscow on 12 September 1990. The two German states and the four Second World War Allies, the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain and France, agreed on the borders, armed forces and alliance freedom of a united Germany. The treaty ended the Allies’ special rights dating from 1945 and allowed German reunification to take place three weeks later with full sovereignty.

Background

After defeating Nazi Germany in 1945, the four Allies took over supreme authority in Germany and divided it and Berlin into occupation zones. They agreed at the Potsdam Conference that a final peace settlement would follow, but the Cold War meant that no peace conference was ever held. Even after West and East Germany became separate states in 1949, the four powers kept “rights and responsibilities” for Berlin and for Germany as a whole.

When the Berlin Wall opened in November 1989 and East Germans voted for rapid unity, these rights became a practical obstacle. Reunification could not be completed without the consent of the four powers. Several neighbours, including Poland, also wanted firm guarantees that a larger Germany would not reopen border questions.

The negotiations

The framework was agreed by the six foreign ministers on 13 February 1990, during an East–West conference in Ottawa. Formal talks at ministerial level followed in Bonn on 5 May, East Berlin on 22 June, Paris on 17 July and Moscow on 12 September, with officials meeting in between. Poland’s foreign minister took part in the Paris meeting on the border question.

The hardest issue was NATO. The United States, backed by West Germany, insisted that a united Germany must stay in the Western alliance. The Soviet Union at first rejected this, proposing neutrality or membership of both alliances. The breakthrough came when Chancellor Helmut Kohl met Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow and the Caucasus on 15–16 July 1990. Gorbachev accepted that Germany could choose its own alliance, in return for limits on German forces and West German financial help for the withdrawal of Soviet troops.

The signing almost stalled at the last minute over whether NATO forces could hold exercises in eastern Germany after Soviet troops left. The dispute was settled with an “agreed minute” that left decisions on the meaning of “deployed” to the German government, acting reasonably and responsibly.

What the treaty says

The treaty is short, with ten articles. Its main provisions are:

• United Germany consists of the territory of West Germany, East Germany and all of Berlin. Its borders are final, and Germany has no territorial claims against other states. The border with Poland was to be confirmed by a separate treaty.
• Germany reaffirms its renunciation of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.
• The German armed forces are to be reduced to no more than 370,000 personnel within three to four years.
• Soviet troops are to leave the former East German territory and Berlin by the end of 1994.
• Until then, only German territorial defence units not integrated into NATO may be based in the east. Afterwards, German NATO-assigned forces may be stationed there, but foreign troops and nuclear weapons may not be stationed or deployed there.
• United Germany has the right to belong to alliances of its choice.
• The four powers terminate their rights and responsibilities relating to Berlin and to Germany as a whole, and united Germany has full sovereignty over its internal and external affairs.

The treaty was signed at the Hotel Oktyabrskaya in Moscow by Hans-Dietrich Genscher for West Germany, Lothar de Maizière, East Germany’s prime minister and acting foreign minister, James Baker for the United States, Eduard Shevardnadze for the Soviet Union, Douglas Hurd for Britain and Roland Dumas for France.

Implementation

On 1 October 1990 the four powers signed a declaration in New York suspending their rights from the moment of unification. Germany was therefore fully sovereign when the two states united on 3 October 1990. The treaty itself entered into force on 15 March 1991, after the Soviet Union, the last state to ratify, deposited its instrument.

Germany and Poland signed a treaty confirming the Oder–Neisse border on 14 November 1990. Russia, as successor to the Soviet Union, completed the withdrawal of its troops on 31 August 1994. The Western Allies held their own farewell ceremonies in Berlin in September 1994.

Legacy and debate

The treaty is often described as the final peace settlement of the Second World War in Europe, although it avoids the word “peace treaty”. It closed the legal questions left open since 1945 and fixed Germany’s borders for good.

It has also become part of a long debate about NATO enlargement. Some Russian leaders and some historians argue that Western leaders gave verbal assurances in 1990 that NATO would not expand eastward. Others point out that the treaty only concerns German territory and contains no commitment about other countries. Historians continue to disagree about how binding the informal statements made in early 1990 were.

Timeline

• 1990, 13 February: The Two Plus Four framework is agreed in Ottawa.
• 1990, 5 May: The first ministerial round is held in Bonn.
• 1990, 15–16 July: Kohl and Gorbachev agree that united Germany may stay in NATO.
• 1990, 12 September: The treaty is signed in Moscow.
• 1990, 1 October: The four powers suspend their rights from the day of unification.
• 1990, 3 October: Germany is reunified as a sovereign state.
• 1991, 15 March: The treaty enters into force.
• 1994, 31 August: The last Russian troops leave Germany.

Why it matters

The Two Plus Four Treaty turned a national event into an internationally agreed settlement. By securing Soviet consent, fixing borders and limiting German military power, it allowed reunification to happen peacefully and without leaving open questions that could have troubled Europe for decades. It followed directly from the fall of the Berlin Wall and closed the post-war chapter that began in 1945.