ABSTRACT
The ending of the Cold War will lead to a significant downsizing of Allied forces in Germany. The complete withdrawal of Soviet units from Eastern Europe in general and the former GDR in particular by the end of 1994 will reinforce the pre-existing tendencies on the part of all the Western stationing states to reassess their own national contributions toward NATO's conventional forces. In this sense, all of the latter will be reacting in a similar way. However, there remain major differences, as our contributors have shown, in the preference structures and declaratory policies of the stationing powers. Only one of these powers, France, has announced an intention to pull out completely from Germany, and even in this case, it has decided that its units in the Franco German brigade will be exempt from the withdrawal order. Nor can it be ruled out that the Mitterrand-Kohl démarche of October 1991, envisioning the construction of a European army under WEU authority, and headquartered in Strasbourg, might lead to the retention of a French military presence in Germany (and the establishment of a German one in France).
