Anton wrote that the Four power treaty returning sovereignty to
Austria contained:
" 1. Die Alliierten und Assoziierten Mächte erklären, daß eine
politische oder wirtschaftliche Vereinigung zwischen Österreich und
Deutschland verboten ist. (The Allied and Associated powers declare
that a political or economic union betweeb Austria and Germany is
prohibited)."
One could "define out" of the situation that there isn't actuially a
"union" going on between Austria and Germany, that the "EU" is called
the "European Union".
Currently, all you have going is Austria changed currency and agreed
to use an Austrian version of the Euro. Germany uses a German version
of the Euro. To maintain stability of the Euro between them, they
agreed to maintain their respective economies within certain
parameters, which each, as a sovereign, may do. There was no "union"
between the two states, or an assimilation of one by the other, either
economically or politically as there was in the "anchluss" of WWII or
as in the "wiedervereinigung". If it gets to the point where the
international borders between them are to disappear, then I will be
curious to see how the two parties get around the treaty.
It may be that they will get around it by stating that the unification
was not the result of a bilaterial German-Austrian agreement, but an
Autrian-EU agreement. It may not be valid so directly, and it may run
against the old treaty, but there's no end to the extent diplomats can
engage in constructive defining. They'll figure something out.
Regards
Len Nadybal
--- In BoundaryPoint@y..., "anton_zeilinger" <anton_zeilinger@h...> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Kevin, thanks for the quick response.
>
> --- In BoundaryPoint@y..., Kevin Meynell <kevin@m...> wrote:
> >
> > >Do you think they will remain should there ever be a unified
> Cyprus?
> >
> > Incidentally, one of the articles of the independence treaty states
> that
> > the Republic of Cyprus "undertakes not to participate, in whole or
> in part,
> > in any political or economic union with any State whatsoever".
> Obviously
> > this is mainly aimed at Greece or Turkey, but presumably joining
> the EU
> > would also be illegal under the terms of the treaty?
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Kevin Meynell
>
> That's an interesting question! The same problem arose before Austria
> joined the European Union. Because in the independence treaty of 1955
> with the Allies USA, UK, France and the Soviet Union, there was an
> article which prevented Austria from establishing ANY union with
> Germany, whether political, economically or otherwise. This was also
> made part of the Austrian constitution.
>
> German text:
>
> Artikel 4.
> Verbot des Anschlusses
>
> 1. Die Alliierten und Assoziierten Mächte erklären, daß eine
> politische oder wirtschaftliche Vereinigung zwischen Österreich und
> Deutschland verboten ist. Österreich anerkennt voll und ganz seine
> Verantwortlichkeiten auf diesem Gebiete und wird keine wie immer
> geartete politische oder wirtschaftliche Vereinigung mit Deutschland
> eingehen.
>
> Translation:
>
> The Allied and Associated powers declare that a political or economic
> union betweeb Austria and Germany is prohibited. Austria recognizes
> fully and wholly its responsibilities in this respect and will not
> enter any political or economic union with Germany WHATSOEVER (!).
>
> 2. Um einer solchen Vereinigung vorzubeugen, wird Österreich
> keinerlei Vereinbarung mit Deutschland treffen oder irgendeine
> Handlung setzen oder irgendwelche Maßnahmen treffen, die geeignet
> wären, unmittelbar oder mittelbar eine politische oder
> wirtschaftliche Vereinigung mit Deutschland zu fördern oder seine
> territoriale Unversehrtheit oder politische oder wirtschaftliche
> Unabhängigkeit zu beeinträchtigen. Österreich verpflichtet sich
> ferner, innerhalb seines Gebietes jede Handlung zu verhindern, die
> geeignet wäre, eine solche Vereinigung mittelbar oder unmittelbar zu
> fördern, und wird den Bestand, das Wiederaufleben und die Tätigkeit
> jeglicher Organisationen, welche die politische oder wirtschaftliche
> Vereinigung mit Deutschland zum Ziele haben, sowie großdeutsche
> Propaganda zugunsten der Vereinigung mit Deutschland verhindern.
>
>
> However, when Austria joined the Union, only informal consent was
> given by the other member parties (i.e. Russia and USA), the treaty
> was not officially abrogated. There was a referendum on joining the
> E.U. (which was pro-EU by 2/3 of Austrians), but not because of this
> question. The referendum was needed, because the sovereign (i.e. the
> people) had to agree to give up some of its legislative powers.
>
> So, probably there would not be a problem with Cyprus. Especially,
> since the other party of the independence treaty presumably is the
> UK, am I right? So if they agree to Cyprus' joining and Cyprus
> agrees, too, than there would be no prblem, right?
>
> Greetings,
>
> AntonZ