Friedrich Merz (C), leader of Germany's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and top candidate for chancellor, takes a bite of a bread roll with fish together with Christoph Ploß (L), chairman of Hamburg's CDU regional group in the German parliament, and Dennis Thering (R), top candidate for the state election and party chairman of the CDU Hamburg, during a visit to the company VB Industries GmbH, which specializes in the areas of process engineering energy-generating plants as well as in shipyard and ship operations technology, in Hamburg, northern Germany, on January 10, 2025. Merz met regional and federal politicians ahead of early general elections scheduled for February 23, 2025 and Hamburg regional elections to take place on March 2, 2025. (Photo by Marcus Brandt / POOL / AFP) (Photo by MARCUS BRANDT/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)