228. How is the accession of the GDR to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1990 commonly referred to?

Answer options

1. NATO eastward enlargement
2. EU eastward enlargement
3. European Community
4. German reunification

Explanation

In legal terms, this was the accession (Beitritt) of the GDR’s Länder under former Article 23 of the Basic Law, implemented by the Unification Treaty of 31 August 1990 and effective on 3 October 1990. The external, international-law dimension was settled by the Two Plus Four Treaty, which terminated Four-Power rights and restored full sovereignty. Constitutionally, the Federal Republic’s identity continued; this was not the creation of a new state but an extension of the Basic Law’s territorial scope to the new Länder. Hence it is commonly called German reunification; NATO and EU eastward enlargements were separate, later processes involving other states.