German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier delivers a speech on his decision to dissolve the parliament at Bellevue Palace in Berlin on December 27, 2024. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz lost a confidence vote spelling the effective end of his troubled government and putting Europe's biggest economy on the path to elections on February 23, 2025. (Photo by John MACDOUGALL / AFP) (Photo by JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP via Getty Images)