A damaged election poster shows German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Frankfurt, Germany, Monday, June 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz attends a Social Democratic Party, SPD, board meeting the day after the European election at the party's headquarters in Berlin, Germany, Monday, June 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, Pool)
Social Democratic Party, DPD, top candidate Katarina Barley, left, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, center, listen to co-chairman Lars Klingbeil, right, during a Social Democratic Party, SPD, board meeting the day after the European election at the party's headquarters in Berlin, Germany, Monday, June 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, Pool)
Friedrich Merz, Federal Chairman of the CDU, speaks after the first projections at a press conference in the Konrad Adenauer House, in Berlin, Sunday June 9, 2024. (Fabian Sommer/dpa via AP)
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz arrives for a Social Democratic Party, SPD, board meeting the day after the European election at the party's headquarters in Berlin, Germany, Monday, June 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, Pool)