A referendum on the

Saar statute The Saar Statute was a Franco-West German agreement signed in 1954 which resulted from lengthy diplomatic negotiations between France and West Germany. It helped to pave the way for a more modern Europe following post World War II tensions and geo ...

was held in the

Saar Protectorate The Saar Protectorate ( ; ), officially Saarland (), was a short-lived French protectorate and a disputed territory separated from Germany. On joining the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG/West Germany) in 1957, it became the smallest "federal ...

on 23 October 1955.Results of the referendum on the Saar Statute
CVCE The statute would have made the territory an independent polity under the auspices of a European

Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to incl ...

, to be appointed by the Council of Ministers of the

Western European Union The Western European Union (WEU; , UEO; , WEU) was the international organisation and military alliance that succeeded the Western Union (alliance) , Western Union (WU) after the 1954 amendment of the 1948 Treaty of Brussels. The WEU implement ...

, while remaining in the

economic union An economic union is a type of trade bloc which is composed of a common market with a customs union. The participant countries have both common policies on product regulation, freedom of movement of goods, services and the factors of prod ...

with

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Its rejection by voters was taken as an indication that they would rather reunite with

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

.Rearmament and the European Defense Community

Library of Congress Country Studies The Country Studies are works published by the Federal Research Division of the United States Library of Congress, freely available for use by researchers. No copyright is claimed on them. Therefore, they have been dedicated to the public domain ...

On 27 October 1956 France and West Germany concluded the

Saar Treaty The Saar Treaty, or Treaty of Luxembourg (German language, German: ''Vertrag von Luxemburg'', French language, French: ''accords de Luxembourg'') is an agreement between West Germany and French Fourth Republic, France concerning the return of the ...

establishing that Saarland should be allowed to join West Germany as provided by article 23 of its constitution (

Grundgesetz The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany () is the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany. The West German Constitution was approved in Bonn on 8 May 1949 and came into effect on 23 May after having been approved by the oc ...

). Saarland subsequently became a

state of Germany The Federal Republic of Germany is a federation and consists of sixteen partly sovereign ''states''. Of the sixteen states, thirteen are so-called area-states ('Flächenländer'); in these, below the level of the state government, there is a ...

with effect from 1 January 1957.

Results

By constituency

References

{{Authority control

Saar Saar or SAAR has several meanings: People Given name * Sarr Boubacar (born 1951), Senegalese professional football player * Saar Ganor, Israeli archaeologist * Saar Klein (born 1967), American film editor Surname * Ain Saar (born 1968), E ...

Politics of Saarland Referendums in France Referendums in Germany Saar Statute referendum

Statute referendum

History of the Saar Protectorate

Legal history of France Legal history of Germany France–West Germany relations

Results

By constituency

See also

References