German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer threatens to quit Angel Merkel’s cabinet in immigration split
Seehofer had said if he could not come to terms with Merkel by Sunday, he would start turning away asylum seekers registered elsewhere
Germany’s interior minister Horst Seehofer on Sunday said he wants to resign both his office and his position as head of the hardline conservative Bavarian CSU party, throwing into question the future of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition government.
“He wants to step down as party chairman and interior minister” as he enjoys “no support”, CSU party sources said on Sunday.
But CSU parliamentary group chief Alexander Dobrindt “does not want to accept Seehofer’s resignation,” participants in the party’s hours-long huddle in Munich on Sunday said.
If Seehofer does resign, it is unclear whether the CSU would seek to remain in coalition with Merkel’s CDU and offer a replacement interior minister.
Alternatively it could break up the two parties’ decades-long alliance, effectively depriving Merkel of her majority in parliament and pitching Germany into uncharted political waters.