No sheet of paper fits between us

This saying originated in the 1990s and may have been coined by honorary FDP chairman Hans-Dietrich Genscher, who said of FDP chairman Klaus Kinkel in 1994: "There's not a sheet of paper that fits between him and me."

However, the quote became really famous in 1998, when SPD chairman Oskar Lafontaine and SPD chancellor candidate Gerhard Schröder used it to demonstrate their unity. But already by 1999, the two had already broken up, which in retrospect lent the statement a certain incredibility.

But despite this, the saying is usually used today without an ironic undertone.