Federal Republic of Germany-Czechoslovak Socialist Republic Treaty on

Federal Republic of Germany-Czechoslovak Socialist Republic Treaty on Mutual Relations of Dec. 11, 1973 

a treaty signed in Prague by the government representative L. Štrougal and the minister of foreign affairs B. Chňoupek of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and by Chancellor W. Brandt and the minister of foreign affairs W. Scheel of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). The treaty became effective on July 19, 1974.

The treaty consists of a preamble and six articles. The preamble states that the parties, in concluding the treaty, were guided by the intent to create lasting foundations for the development of good relations and to strengthen peace and security in Europe. The parties also recognized “that the Munich Agreement of Sept. 29, 1938, was imposed on the Czechoslovak Republic by the National Socialist regime under the threat of force.” Article 1 points out that “Czechoslovakia and the FRG consider the Munich Agreement of Sept. 29, 1938, void under the terms of this treaty in regard to their mutual relations.”

The treaty settles (art. 2) the legal consequences of declaring the Munich Agreement null and void and reaffirms that the parties will resolve by exclusively peaceful means all differences relating both to mutual relations and to European and international security. Article 4 reaffirms the inviolability of the frontier between the two states at present and in the future; it also commits the parties to respect the territorial integrity of the two states and to refrain from raising any territorial claims against one another. The treaty calls for the further development of relations between the two countries (art. 5).

PUBLICATION

Mezhdunarodnaia zhizn’, 1974, no. 2.