On 22 January 1963, in Paris, the representatives of France and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) sign the treaty known as the Élysée Treaty on Franco-German cooperation which enshrines the reconciliation between the two countries and under which they undertake to cooperate in particular in the fields of foreign policy, defence, education and culture.

On 15 June 1963, the Bundestag of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) adopts the preamble to the Bill for the ratification of the Treaty of Friendship between France and Germany, signed on 22 January 1963 in Paris.

'Pierre Laval: shot for collaborating with Germany 1940-44. Poor chap. He lived before his time!' On 17 August 1959, the British cartoonist, Cummings, expresses the United Kingdom's worries about the friendship and the rapprochement developing between France and Germany, awakening old fears associated, in particular, with the period of the Second World War.

‘Am I not entitled to a treaty of reconciliation, too?’ On 7 February 1963, referring to the signing, on 22 January at the Élysée Palace, of the Franco-German Treaty of Friendship, the British cartoonist, Cummings, takes an ironic look at the marginal position of the United Kingdom and of its Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan.

‘Celebrations in Brussels. “We’re engaged!”’ On 26 January 1963, Opland, Dutch cartoonist, depicts the anxiety arising from the signing of the Franco-German Friendship Treaty in the states of the European Community.

'Here's to fruitful cooperation!' declare General de Gaulle and the German Chancellor, Konrad Adenauer, at the signing, on 22 January 1963, of the Franco-German Treaty of Friendship. This cartoon suggests that this collaboration conceals the desire of each to dominate the other.

'This is the basis of Franco-German friendship' accuses the Russian newspaper. In 1960, the USSR took a very dim view of the friendship between France and Germany, seeing in their cooperation the spectre of resurgent Nazism in France.

'Under the protection of the ally - the Paris-Bonn Axis'. In June 1963, the Soviet weekly publication Krokodil strongly condems Franco-German cooperation, seen by the USSR as being the first step towards German rearmament.