B. Meetings at Bonn between representatives of the Federal Republic and the Allied Deputy High Commissioners to discuss certain aspects of a German contribution to the defense of Western Europe, January 9–June 4, 1951

Editorial Note

On December 18 the NATO Council at its sixth session in Brussels approved a decision to begin talks at Bonn between the Allied High Commission and representatives of the Federal Republic of Germany concerning certain aspects of a German contribution to Western defense. On the following day the Foreign Ministers of the United States, the United Kingdom, and France agreed to begin discussions with the Federal Republic on a new contractual relationship to replace the Occupation Statute for Germany and the Charter of the Allied High Commission. These decisions, together with the approval given to the projected talks at Paris for a European Army, became known as the “Brussels decisions” or “Brussels formula.”

The documentation that follows indicates the main lines of the Bonn talks (sometimes referred to as the Petersberg talks) on a possible German military contribution to Western defense. For documentation on contractual relations and the European Army talks, see pages 1446 ff. and 755 ff.