| Summary: | After the ratification of the Paris Treaties on May 5, 1955 the Germany Treaty took full effect. It ended Germany's status as an occupied territory and gives it the rights of a sovereign state, with certain restrictions that remained in place until German reunification. West Germany was allowed to join NATO and to create the Western European Union. With this development, West Germany, under the leadership of Konrad Adenauer, in front of the backdrop of the Cold War became a fully trusted partner of the western allies and with the second draft of the Germany Treaty, West Germany largely regained its sovereignty. Adenauers achievements include the establishment of a stable democracy in defeated Germany, a lasting reconciliation with France, a general political reorientation towards the West, recovering limited but far-reaching sovereignty for West Germany by firmly integrating it with the emerging Euro-Atlantic community (NATO and the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation). However, contemporary critics accused Adenauer of cementing the division of Germany, sacrificing reunification and the recovery of territories lost to Poland and the Soviet Union for the sake of speedy integration into the West.
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