Setting the Stage for the Future : Germany

Following the restoration of German unity and the colossal political changes occurring in the wake of the collapse of the communist systems in the eastern part of Europe, the Federal Republic and its partners faced and continue to face completely new challenges.

>The recovery process in the new federal states must be accelerated and the internal unity of Germany completed.
>The European Union must be further developed, deepened and enlarged.
>A global structure promoting peace and security must be established and maintained.

National, European and global responsibilities are inseparably intertwined. Recovery and consolidation in the new federal states cannot take place unless they are closely bound up with the process of European integration. Europe cannot retain its new structure without opening itself up to the reformist states in Central and Eastern Europe. Economically as well as politically, the states of eastern Central Europe must be led step by step towards the collective European and Atlantic organizations.