German parties meet for initial talks on forming coalition

From left: Member of the board of the Free Democrats, FDP, Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, Head of the FDP, Christian Lindner, German chancellor Angela Merkel, and Bavarian governor and head of mMerkel’s Bavrarian sister party, CSU, Horst Seehofer, stand on the balcony of a parliament building in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is meeting members of three smaller political parties to sound out their red lines ahead of formal talks on forging a coalition government. Merkel’s Union bloc is holding separate talks Wednesday with the free-market FDP and the environmentalist Greens. (Michael Kappeler/dpa via AP)