This year 2023 marks the 60th anniversary of the Elysée Treaty, known as well as the franco-german treaty, that endorses the close relationship between France and Germany in diplomatic, defence and education cooperation.
Signed by Général de Gaulle and Chancellor Adenauer on February 22, 1963, it was intended to assert a policy detached from the logic of the blocs in the midst of the Cold War, in a precursory move towards European independence.
On this occasion, Albrecht Sonntag, professor of European studies at ESSCA, analyzes, in 3 articles, the process of civil reconciliation that prefigured, even before politics, the famous franco-german friendship.