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(FILES) In this file photo taken on September 04, 2017 German Chancellor Angela Merkel and then top candidate of the CDU for the state elections in North-Rhine Westfalia Armin Laschet talk prior to a press conference after a meeting with the heads of German municipalities to discuss improving electric car infrastructure and reducing air pollution in wake of the dieselgate scandal in the chancellery in Berlin. - Germany's ruling conservatives are locked in a bitter dispute over who they want to succeed Angela Merkel as chancellor when Germany goes to the polls in September. (Photo by John MACDOUGALL / AFP) (KEYSTONE/AFP/JOHN MACDOUGALL)