The Western Allies took this as their cue to repudiate any support for the former claims of the Federal Republic to an exclusive mandate for Germany, all thereon recognising the GDR as a separate sovereign state and supporting the admission of both German states as equivalent members of the United Nations.[36] In 1975 both German states participated in the Helsinki Final Act under which the existing post-war boundaries of Europe, including the separation of East and West Germany and the border between East Germany and Poland, were confirmed as legitimate in international law.