The road to Germany

The road to Germany
The rejection of the European statute did not necessarily spell the end of the partly autonomous Saar state. But 23 October 1955 marked such a dramatic turning point in political opinion that from then on everything led to the integration of Saarland into the Federal Republic as rapidly as possible. On the Saar, the Hoffmann government resigned actually on the night of the election. The December 1955 election finalised the shift of domestic political power started by the referendum. The last foreign policy obstacles to reunification were removed in the 1956 Luxembourg Treaty between Germany and France. By New Year’s Day 1957, Konrad Adenauer was welcoming the newest federal German Land in Saarbrücken. Two and a half years later, on 6 July 1959, the customs frontiers were removed, the German mark replaced the franc as currency and the Saar ceased to go its own way. The mutually agreed solution to the Saar question paved the way for Franco-German friendship.