Německá otázka očima Paříže
The German Question as Seen from Paris

Summary/Abstract: The German question was one of the important areas of French foreign policy throughout the Cold War period. There were different views as to whether German reunification should be permitted, and, if so, under what conditions and within what timeframe. Whereas the politicians of the early decades of the Cold War did not have to solve the question while the Iron Curtain divide persisted, President François Mitterrand found himself in the late 1980s facing a series of rapid dynamic changes, which forced him to adjust his policies and come up with new solutions. In his article the author shows how Mitterrand’s position and approach gradually developed as a result of changing circumstances. The French President placed a lot of trust in the Soviet Union and its leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, seeing the Kremlin once more as a counter-balance both to the United States and to resurgent Germany (thus retaining the longstanding ‘double security concept’ of French foreign policy). With this strategy proving to be a failure, and with the prospect of reunification looming ever closer in the autumn of 1989, Mitterrand had to devise new approaches to cope with the situation. His ultimate decision to allow the reunification of Germany (or, more precisely, not to oppose it openly) went hand in hand with the decision that the European Community must be strengthened to integrate the whole of Germany into the Western bloc. This solution was acceptable to Chancellor Helmut Kohl as well and thus the reunification could proceed with much greater haste than Mitterrand had originally anticipated. The author provides a detailed analysis of the motives and objectives behind Mitterrand’s moves and decisions. He also shows, however, that Mitterrand’s often finding himself unable to keep pace with events was frequently because of the inaccurate reports he received from his advisers and French diplomats abroad. Yet, despite this lack of information, Mitterrand was able to realize what was happening in Germany and the consequences of these events faster than, for example, Margaret Thatcher and other Western politicians.

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