(Bloomberg) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she and French President Emmanuel Macron don’t always see eye-to-eye, though the two leaders usually find a “middle ground” at the end of disagreements.

“Certainly we grapple with one another,” Merkel told the daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung in an interview. “There are differences in mentality between us as well as differences in how we perceive our roles.”

As Franco-German tensions over Brexit, weapons exports and climate policy have come to the fore, Merkel conceded that the two were often at odds, citing the nations’ histories and structural differences in their high offices. Still, Germany and France stand together in the broader scheme, she said.

Asked whether relations between the two had deteriorated in past months, Merkel responded: “No, not at all.” But she said there was a matter of timing. Macron gave his September 2017 Sorbonne University speech on euro-area reforms just after Germany’s election, after which Merkel needed six months to form a government.

A week and a half before the May 26 European election, Merkel said the continent-wide ballot was “of great significance,” though she disputed Macron’s observation in a message to Europeans that the bloc was never in as much danger.

“I find it difficult to compare Europe’s current situation with the dangers of earlier decades,” Merkel said.

The German leader reiterated her support for Manfred Weber, the center-right European People’s Party candidate who wants to succeed Jean-Claude Juncker as European Commission President. But she also revived her position that the EPP’s candidate shouldn’t necessarily be the next Commission chief -- alluding to the back-and-forth on European posts.

Her backing of Weber “doesn’t rule out that Germany has other excellent candidates for other offices,” Merkel said.

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