TheFour Power Agreement on Berlin, also known as theBerlin Agreement or theQuadripartite Agreement on Berlin, was agreed on 3 September 1971 by the reconvenedAllied Control Council, consisting of ambassadors of the fourwartime Allied powers. The four foreign ministers,Sir Alec Douglas-Home of theUnited Kingdom,Andrei Gromyko of theSoviet Union,Maurice Schumann ofFrance, andWilliam P. Rogers of theUnited States signed the agreement and put it into force at a meeting of theCouncil of Foreign Ministers inBerlin on 3 June 1972.[1] The agreement was not a treaty and required no formal ratification.
By reconfirming the post-1945 existence of the rights and responsibilities of the Four Powers for the future of Berlin andGermany as a whole, which the Soviets had earlier claimed to have abrogated (as a result of theBerlin crisis of 1959–1962), the Agreement laid the foundation for a series of East-West agreements which ushered in the period usually known asdétente. It also re-established ties betweenEast andWest Berlin, improved travel and communications between the two parts of the city and brought numerous improvements for the residents of the Western Sectors.
In order to reach such improvements, the ultimate political definition of the status of Berlin was purposely left vague, thus it preserved the differing legal positions of the two sides.
The Quadripartite Agreement is drawn up "in the English,[i] French[ii] and Russian[iii] languages, all texts being equally authentic." Thus, there is no authentic text in the German language. The translations used by the then-extant two German states had some differences.[iv]
After the agreement entered into force, the Soviet Union used this vague wording in an effort to loosen West Berlin's ties with theFederal Republic of Germany (West Germany). However, the agreement contributed greatly both to a reduction of tensions between East and West over Berlin and to expanded contacts between the two parts of Germany. As such, it made an important contribution to the process that resulted in thereunification of Germany in 1990.
Along with the Allied agreement, theBasic Treaty (German:Grundlagenvertrag) which was signed on 21 December 1972 and came into force in June 1973, recognized both German states. The two countries pledged to respect one another's sovereignty and maintain diplomatic relations. Previously, both had competing and evolving claims to be the sole legitimate German state. Under the terms of the treaty, diplomatic missions were to be exchanged and commercial, tourist, cultural, and communications relations established. Under the agreement and the treaty, in September 1973, both German states joined theUnited Nations.
These treaties were part of a breakthrough series of international agreements which were seen by some as formalizing theCold War's division of Europe, while others saw this as the start of the process that led to the end of the Cold War. Mary Sarotte wrote in 2001 that "...despite all the fears, both sides managed to make many bargains as a result of the détente dialogue."[2]
While Part II of the agreement stated that the further development of the relationship between West Germany and West Berlin, whereby West Berlin was still not part in the sense of a constitutive part of West Germany and could not be governed by it, at the same timede facto - not registered in itself - it was established that the further development of relations between theGerman Democratic Republic (East Germany) and East Berlin, with East Berlin still not being part of East Germany in the sense of a constitutive part and also not being governed by it.
