Following the collapse of communism in Central and Eastern Europe in 1989, symbolised by the opening of the Berlin Wall, both territories took action to achieve German reunification. East Germany voted to dissolve and accede to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1990. Its five post-war states () were reconstituted, along with the reunited Berlin, which ended its special status and formed an additional . They formally joined the federal republic on 3 October 1990, raising the total number of states from ten to sixteen, and ending the division of Germany. The reunited Germany is the direct continuation of the state previously informally called West Germany and not a new state, as the process was essentially a voluntary act of accession: the Federal Republic of Germany was enlarged to include the additional six states of the former German Democratic Republic. The expanded federal republic retained West Germany's political culture and continued its existing memberships in international organisations, as well as its Western foreign policy alignment and affiliation to Western alliances such as the United Nations, NATO, OECD, and the European Economic Community.