The decisive phase in the history of the establishment of the Federal Republic began at the end of the conference of Allied foreign ministers in London in December 1947. The latest attempt to negotiate a joint solution to the German problem had failed. The United States was determined to reorient its policies in West Germany to complete the stabilization of Western Europe that it had begun with the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan.

While still in London, American and British diplomats and representatives of the military governments discussed the formation of a provisional government for “Bizonia,” which the French zone could join. The bizonal administrations were to be restructured as effective political institutions with expanded responsibilities. The first meetings between the American and British military governors, the minister presidents of the Lönder (states) in the unified economic zone, and representatives of the bizonal administrations took place on January 7-8 in Frankfurt am Main, the seat of the American military government. The outcome was the creation of a new organizational form consisting of a parliamentary body, the Economic Council, the Lönder Council, and an Administrative Council with executive responsibilities.