London Nine-Powers Conference

© Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin Chancellor Adenauer (foreground) during the London Nine-Powers Conference

When the French National Assembly rejected the treaty on the „European Defence Community“ (EVG) on 30 August 1954,  the project for a trans-European army was not the only victim. Another, for the time being, was the Treaty on Germany which had already been signed on 26 May 1952 and which was to grant the Federal Republic of Germany complete sovereignty. The two treaties had been linked to each other. Thus it becomes necessary to find a political solution to this dilemma at the London Nine-Powers Conference convened on 28 September 1954. Conference participants include the Benelux nations, West Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy, Canada and the USA. They argue in favour of admitting the Federal Republic into the „North Atlantic Treaty Organization“ (NATO), founded in 1949, and for founding the „Western European Union“ (WEU) which the Federal Republic will also join. These resolutions will be agreed to contractually at the Paris Conferences of 19 through 23 October of that year.