It led to a series of treaties and agreements in the early 1970s, most significantly a treaty in which East and West Germany recognised each other's sovereignty and supported each other's applications for UN membership, although East Germans leaving for the West retained the right to claim a West German passport.[36][37] Reunification remained a theoretical objective for West Germany, but in practice that objective was put aside by the West and abandoned entirely by the East.[36][37] New crossing points were established and East German crossing regulations were slightly relaxed, although the fortifications were as rigorously maintained as ever.[3]