Elysee Treaty - France, Germany Mark 40 Year Anniversary

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___ France, Germany Mark 40 Year Anniversary
Wed Jan 22, 9:49 PM ET

By JOHN LEICESTER, Associated Press Writer

PARIS - France and Germany celebrated 40 years of reconciliation Wednesday and announced new measures to bring the once-bitter enemies even closer, including the possibility of shared nationality.

In a dramatic show of friendship, the leaders of the two nations proposed that someday some French and Germans could have shared nationality -- an idea once unthinkable to generations that survived two World Wars.

Neither German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder nor French President Jacques Chirac gave details of how it would work or when it might be implemented.

Schroeder said he and Chirac agreed that dual nationality would be offered "in the long term" to Germans and French who live in the other country.

On Iraq, the two leaders said they are committed to giving peace a chance in the crisis over Iraq -- a response to the Bush administration's talk of war.

The two marked the 1963 signing of a friendship treaty with promises to become even closer as the European Union prepares to expand eastward and welcome 10 new members next year.

An enlarged Europe "will need the French-German engine," Chirac said in his speech to the German and French lawmakers who gathered at the Versailles palace outside Paris.

"This huge ensemble of 450 million people will face risks and challenges," Chirac said. "It will need to find a center of gravity."

Schroeder echoed the need for closer cooperation: "Few things get done in Europe if France and Germany don't agree."

Schroeder explained dual nationaliy in his speech.

"It will mean, above all, that Germans and French will be able to vote and play a part in decisions where they actually live," he said.

France and Germany chose a symbolic location to turn a chapter on their warring past. At Versailles, the Allies forced a humiliated Germany to sign the armistice that ended World War I. The chateau is also a site of French humiliation. There, after beating France in an 1870-71 war, Germany proclaimed itself an empire.

Chirac and Schroeder also said they would push for common European policies on immigration and asylum, a Europe-wide prosecution service and European criminal files.

The 1963 Elysee Treaty, signed by President Charles de Gaulle and Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, laid the foundation for what arguably has grown into Europe's cornerstone friendship.

Germany and France are each other's biggest trade partners. They share a common currency, the euro, along with 10 other of the 15 nations that currently make up the EU.

Source: Associated Press

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Countries and Nations ___plamet monitor articles :: Elysee Treaty

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