O „politycznej chemii” i współpracy kanclerz Angeli Merkel z prezydentami Francji ( 2005-2021)

The author analyzes the impact of personal relations between Chancellor Angela Merkel and the French presidents on the development of bilateral relations and European cooperation. Merkel was the only chancellor in the history of Germany that cooperated with four French presidents who represented not only various political options, but also had different life experience and political temperament. In this context, the main research question focuses on whether Merkel, with a view tomaintaining bilateral relations vital for both countries and cooperation in the European Union, managed to establish not only good personal relations with the leaders of the Fifth Republic, but also gradually became the more dominant partner in these bilateral contacts to the benefit of Germany. The author proved the thesis that regardless of the political orientations of the Frenchpartners, their political experience and personal temperament, Chancellor Merkel managed to deepen bilateral cooperation between Germany and France and successfully combated the crises that occurred in the European Union. The source basis of the article are declarations, speeches, press conferences, reports from bilateral meetings posted on the websites of the governments of Germany (Die Bundesregierung; Die Bundekanzlerin) and France (France Diplomatie; Ělysée) and conclusions from meetings of the EU European Councils (consilium.europa). Especially helpful were press articles published in the leading dailies and weeklies of France and Germany. On the methodological level, the comparative, decision-making, behavioral and source content analysis methods were used in the preparation of the article.