Horst Lorenz Seehofer (born 4 July 1949) is a German politician who served as Minister for the Interior, Building and Community under Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2018 to 2021. A member of the Christian Social Union (CSU), he served as the 18th minister-president of Bavaria from 2008 to 2018 and Leader of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria from 2008 to 2019.
First elected to the Bundestag in 1980, he served as Minister for Health and Social Security in the Christian-liberal cabinets of Helmut Kohl from 1992 to 1998, going to the opposition afterwards and returning to the government as Minister for Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection in the grand coalition cabinet of Angela Merkel from 2005 to 2008. Following a disastrous result for his party in the 2008 Bavarian state election, he became both Leader of the CSU and Minister-president of Bavaria, an office he had never sought, after forming a coalition government with the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), the first coalition on state level in five decades. In 2013 he returned his party to an absolute majority on state level. He served as President of the Bundesrat from 2011 to 2012. As such he was acting head of state of Germany from the resignation of President Christian Wulff on 17 February 2012 until the election of Joachim Gauck as Wulff's successor on 18 March 2012.
A staunch opponent of Chancellor Angela Merkel's response to the 2010s migrant crisis,Andrea Thomas (20 November 2015), Angela Merkel, CSU's Horst Seehofer Clash Over German Policy for Migrants Wall Street Journal. Seehofer threatened to file a formal complaint with the Constitutional Court,Michelle Martin (31 January 2016), Bavarian leader defends planned visit to Putin in Moscow Reuters. with the historic CDU/CSU alliance in danger of splitting and running against each other in the whole of Germany for the first time, but neither happened. He is a proponent of a federal cap on the number of refugees the German government is to take in.Ruth Bender (14 January 2016), Bavarian Town Protests Merkel's Refugee Policy With Busload of Migrants Wall Street Journal. After faring historically badly in the 2017 federal election, the party receiving its worst result since 1949, and unsuccessfully trying to run for a third term as minister-president in 2018, he was pressured by his party to resign and instead accepted the office of Minister for the Interior, Building and Community (originally intended for Joachim Herrmann) in Merkel's fourth government, in order to shape the migrant policy after his views. In July 2018, a week-long dissent between Seehofer and Merkel nearly brought down the government and again seriously threatened a CDU/CSU split, but they ultimately found a compromise.
Early life and education After secondary school, Seehofer started working as civil servant in the local administration in Ingolstadt.Toby Vogel (5 February 2014), Horst Seehofer – Alpha male European Voice.
Political career
Federal Minister and Member of the Bundestag (1980–2008) Seehofer served as member of the German federal parliament (Bundestag) as a directly elected delegate (Direktkandidat) from his constituency Ingolstadt from 1980 until 2008. At the 2005 federal election he received 65.9 percent of the votes in his district.
Seehofer was Federal Minister for Health and Social Security from 1992 to 1998 in the cabinet of Chancellor Helmut Kohl.
In 1993, Seehofer ordered that Germany's 117-year-old Federal Health Agency be dissolved following a review of how the government in the 1980s handled the cases of thousands of hemophiliacs who were infected through blood contaminated with HIV. The Health Ministry took over the agency's responsibilities.German Agency Says It Erred in H.I.V. Case New York Times, 15 October 1993. Also, Seehofer announced that Germany would contribute to an emergency fund for victims of the scandal.Craig R. Whitney (13 November 1993), Germany to Pay Victims in AIDS Blood Scandal New York Times. In the context of the crisis, he came under considerable pressure to resign.Stephen Kinzer (5 November 1993), Fear of H.I.V.-Infected Blood Spreads Past German Borders New York Times.
After Helmut Kohl lost his bid for a fifth term in the 1998 federal election, in the opposition Seehofer became deputy chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group of the Bundestag in October 1998, which was led at the time by Kohl's successor Wolfgang Schäuble. Ahead of the 2005 elections, Edmund Stoiber included Seehofer in his shadow cabinet for the Christian Democrats' unsuccessful campaign to unseat Chancellor Gerhard Schröder.Rüdiger Scheidges (June 10, 2002), Das Vorrunden-Team Handelsblatt. He served as Health Minister Ulla Schmidt's counterpart in negotiating the cross-party healthcare bill of 2003. Because of his disagreement with CDU leader Angela Merkel on flat-rate contributions (Gesundheitsprämie) to the federal health insuranceBertrand Benoit (17 October 2005), Angela Merkel's cabinet Financial Times. he resigned from his leadership post in the parliamentary group on 22 November 2004 but remained deputy chairman of his party and kept his Bundestag seat.
Seehofer was appointed Federal Minister of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection in the cabinet of Angela Merkel and stayed in office from 2005 to 2008.
Minister President of Bavaria (2008–2018) After his party lost more than 17% of the popular vote in the Bavarian state elections of 2008, incumbent Minister-President Günther Beckstein and Chairman of the CSU, Erwin Huber, announced their resignations. Seehofer was quickly proposed as their successor. At a party convention on 25 October he was affirmed as the new Chairman of the CSU with 90% of the votes, and on 27 October he was elected Minister-President by the Landtag with votes from the Free Democratic Party, forming the first coalition government in Bavaria since 1962.
During the term 2011–2012, Seehofer served as President of the German Bundesrat. As such, he functioned as Acting head of state from Christian Wulff's resignation on 17 February 2012 until the election of Joachim Gauck on 18 March 2012.
Under Seehofer's leadership, the State of Bavaria took to the Federal Constitutional Court in 2012 in order to dispute the legality of Germany's post-World War II system of financial redistribution among the country's 16 states. Bavaria, a beneficiary of the system until 1988, had paid more in 2011 than it got out in the 40 years it was a net recipient.Rainer Buergin (17 July 2012), Bavaria to Challenge Germany's Postwar System of State Finances Bloomberg Business. The State of Hesse, another per-capita contributor, joined the lawsuit.Joseph de Weck (5 February 2013), Richest German States Challenge System of Paying for Poor Bloomberg Business.
Also under Seehofer's leadership, the CSU won an absolute majority in the 2013 state elections, heralding strong momentum for the conservative parties in the federal elections the following week.CSU Triumph: Bavarian Vote Gives Merkel Pre-Election Boost Spiegel Online, 16 September 2013. From 2013 to 2018 Seehofer also was a member of the Bavarian Landtag (state parliament) representing the constituency of Neuburg-Schrobenhausen. Together with Angela Merkel and Sigmar Gabriel, he later led the negotiations to form a coalition government on the national level. In late 2013, Seehofer won a record 95.3 percent of the party's votes to continue as chairman.Paul Carrel (30 October 2015), Horst Seehofer: Merkel ally turned menace-in-chief Reuters.
In early 2015, under pressure from younger rivals, Seehofer announced he would retire at the next state elections in 2018.Stefan Wagstyl (7 October 2015), Bavarian ally proves a thorn in Merkel's side on refugees Financial Times. Later that year, when was chosen the fifth time as leader of the CSU, he received 87.2 percent of the vote, some 8 percent down on the result he achieved in 2013.Bavarian premier Seehofer re-elected CSU party leader Deutsche Welle, 21 November 2015.
In August 2016, Seehofer said he may break the unity of the "sister parties" (CDU/CSU) and run a separate CSU campaign in the 2017 national elections, a move widely seen as an effort to keep pressure on Merkel (being the leader of CDU) to shift to a more restrictive refugee policy in the European migrant crisis.Rainer Buergin (1 August 2016), Merkel's Bavarian Ally Hints at Snub of Chancellor in 2017 Vote Bloomberg News. He also announced to stay on as CSU leader beyond 2018.Joern Poltz and Paul Carrel (24 April 2017), Merkel ally Seehofer staying on for 'difficult' German election Reuters. When the CSU's share of the vote in Bavaria fell 10 percentage points compared with 2013, to below 39 per cent, Seehofer faced demands to resign.Guy Chazan (27 September 2017), Bavarian party chief faces resignation calls over poll result Financial Times. On 4 December 2017, he announced to step down as Minister President and not run as leading candidate in the 2018 state elections;Guy Chazan (4 December 2017), Bavarian PM Horst Seehofer steps down in CSU power struggle Handelsblatt instead, he said he would hand over the office to Markus Söder in the first quarter of 2018.Emily Schultheis (4 December 2017), Seehofer to quit as Bavarian premier to end power struggle Politico Europe.
Return to federal cabinet (2018–2021) On 1 March 2018, Seehofer confirmed that he will be in Merkel's cabinet if the SPD party members vote in favour of the coalition. He took over the role of Interior Minister. A policy Seehofer announced is that he has a "master plan for faster asylum procedures, and more consistent deportations." He wants a "zero tolerance" policy toward criminals. On 15 March 2018, Seehofer stated that he disagreed with the belief that Islam is part of Germany, a topic already often discussed in Germany, since Federal President Christian Wulff had said in a 2010 speech that Islam was part of Germany. He noted that certain public holidays correspond to certain church holidays.
Under Seehofer's master plan Germany would reject migrants who have already been deported or have an entry ban and would instruct police to turn away all migrants who have registered elsewhere in the EU, no matter if these countries agreed to take them back. Merkel feared that unilaterally sending migrants back to neighbouring countries without seeking a multilateral European agreement could endanger the stability of the European Union. In June 2018, Seehofer backed down from a threat to bypass her in the disagreement over immigration policy until she would come back on 1 July from attempts to find a solution at European level. During these weeks the media was speculating not only on a government fall down but also on a split of the CDU/CSU alliance, which consists of the CSU in Bavaria and the CDU in the remaining 15 states. It would have meant that the CSU would run for elections all over Germany and the CDU would run in Bavaria, which they have never done before.
On 1 July 2018, Seehofer rejected the agreement Merkel had obtained with EU countries as too little and declared his resignation during a meeting of his party's executive, but they refused to accept it. During the night of 2 July 2018, Seehofer and Merkel announced they had settled their differences and agreed to instead accept a compromise of tighter border control.Germany's Merkel Secures Deal on Migrants, Averts Government Collapse The Wall Street JournalNadine Schmidt and Judith Vonberg (2 July 2018). "Germany's Merkel makes deal with interior minister on migration dispute". CNN International Edition. edition.cnn.com. Retrieved 2018-07-03. As a result of the agreement, Seehofer agreed to not resign, and to negotiate bilateral agreements with the specific countries himself. Seehofer was criticised for almost bringing the government down while the monthly number of migrants targeted by that policy was in single figures.