Austro-German Customs Union

The Austro-German customs union was a project designed by Germany and Austria in 1930 and 1931 and publicly presented on March 31, 1931, which envisaged the elimination of tariffs between the two countries. Ultimately unsuccessful, the plan was justified as part of European economic recovery efforts during the Great Depression, although for the countries that opposed this goal —especially France and Czechoslovakia— it was a first step towards the political union of the two countries, which they strongly opposed. Political and economic pressures —most effective since the bankruptcy of Creditanstalt, Austria's largest bank, in May, which increased Vienna's financial needs— derailed the project, even before the Permanent Court of International Justice ruled against it and declared it incompatible with Austria's international obligations in September.