It is a paradox of Franco-German relations that German Chancellors of the center-left get on better with French Presidents of the center-right and vice versa. Helmut Schmidt worked hand in hand with Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, but had little rapport with François Mitterrand (then again, Schmidt never suffered fools gladly). Mitterrand in turn had an excellent relationship with Helmut Kohl, who did not get well with Jacques Chirac. Chirac had some differences with Gerhard Schröder, but saw mostly eye to eye with him. Neither Chirac nor Nicolas Sarkozy seem to have much chemistry with Angela Merkel.