(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) BERLIN, May 16 (KUNA) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel has admitted to having disagreements with French President Emmanuel Macron but stresses that the two leaders as well as the two close allies France and Germany are always able to achieve compromises.
The tandem of France and Germany, often referred to as Franco-Germany, has been the historical engine behind EU integration. Over the past couple of years, there has seemed to have relative friction between them with Macronآ's eager push for wide-ranging EU reforms and Merkelآ's somewhat lukewarm support for his proposals.
"We do have scuffles, and we are different characters. We also have different ideas about our roles at times, itآ's always been that way," Merkel told the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
However, the German leader, whose fourth and last term as Chancellor expires in 2021, emphasized that her relationship with Macron had not deteriorated, "not at all", and that Berlin and Paris agreed "naturally on the big issues".
"This is how we accomplish much for Europe, even today. We always find a middle way," the German Chancellor said.
"In the core questions where is Europe going, the economy, what responsibility do we have for the climate and for Africa, we are on a very similar wavelength," she elaborated.
The German leader cited the "enormous progress" in defense policy where "we decided to develop a fighter plane and a tank together" as an example of deepening Franco-German cooperation.
France and Germany also launched recently a joint parliamentary assembly. However, they have fallen out somewhat on whether to keep supplyng arms to Saudi Arabia and others involved in the Yemeni Civil War.
Regarding Macronآ's EU reform push, she argued there had been cases of bad timing since she was engaged in half a year of coalition building after the 2017 elections in Germany.(end).
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