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Behind the Reports of Growing Tension Between France and Germany Lies the 1963 Cooperation Treaty Designed to Keep the Neighbors on Friendly Terms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2019

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Part of the fallout from what appears to have been a flawed, if not disastrous, EU treaty summit in Nice at the end of last year is the rank acknowledgment that relations between Germany and France are strained. To believe the international press, it's as bad as can be. The Economist titled its recent story on the Franco-German rift “Divorce after all these years?” The headlines in the Paris based, American edited International Herald Tribune have been even more alarmist: “Germans Try to Ease Friction with French,” “Paris-Berlin Tensions Worry Two Old Hands,” and “The French-German Question. Leaders Talk of Relationship That Remains Undefined.”

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © 2001 by German Law Journal GbR 

References

(2) Art. 31 of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, though not retroactive, has been recognized by the International Court of Justice as customary international law. Art. 31.1 states: “A treaty shall be interpreted in good faith in accordance with the ordinary meaning to be given to the terms of the treaty in their context and in the light of its object and purpose. See Case Concerning Kasikili/Sedudu Island (Botswana/Namibia), ICJ 13 Dec. 1999, http://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/library/cijwww/icjwww.Google Scholar

(3) Art. 31.2 of the 1969 Vienna convention on the law of Treaties states: “The context for the purpose of the interpretation of a treaty shall comprise, in addition to the text, including its preamble and annexes: (b) any instrument which was made by one or more parties in connection with the conclusion of the treaty and accepted by the other parties as an instrument related to the treaty.” Customary international law also accepts that the subsequent practice of the parties serves to inform the meaning of a Treaty. Article 31.3 of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties states: “There shall be taken into account, together with the context: (b) any subsequent practice in the application of the treaty which establishes the agreement of the parties regarding its interpretations.” See Case Concerning Kasikili/Sedudu Island (Botswana/Namibia), ICJ 13 Dec. 1999, http://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/library/cijwww/icjwww.Google Scholar