Horst Seehofer

Horst Seehofer

Horst Seehofer (born July 4, 1949) is the current Minister of Interior of Germany. From 2008 to 2018 he was the minister president of Bavaria and from 2008 to 2019 he was the chairman of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria.

In January 2018 Seehofer has been attacked by left-wing politicians for hosting Viktor Orbán, Hungary's conservative-nationalist prime minister, at a party event.^[1] Some weeks before Orbán has sent a letter of congratulations to Horst Seehofer on his re-election as leader of the Christian Social Union of Bavaria.^[2]

Seehofer is known as a critic of Angela Merkel's refugee policies, though some conservative critics have described him as "a centre-right figure fundamentally unopposed to mass migration."^[3] He also has attacked the conservative Alternative for Germany party – which has the same views on migration that he claims to have – as "highly dangerous."^[4] In October 2010, Seehofer stated that "multiculturalism is dead" and that both CSU and CDU were committed to a "dominant German culture". He also said that if Germany did not revise its immigration policies, it was in danger of becoming "the world's welfare office".^[5] In an interview in early 2018, Seehofer said that Germany had been "shaped by Christianity", and that the country should not give up its own traditions. Furthermore, he stated that Islam "does not belong in Germany,"^[6] though Merkel quickly responded by saying that "Islam belongs to Germany,"^[7] along with Germany's president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier.^[8] Seehofer also criticized the European Union for being too condescending in its interactions with its Eastern European members on immigration issues.^[9] However, in September 2019, Seehofer stated that Germany might be willing to accept 25% of illegal migrants to land in Italy.^[10]

Despite serving in Merkel's government, Seehofer reportedly aligns more closely to Italy's Matteo Salvini on immigration issues.^[11] On June 18, 2018, Seehofer expressed that Germany should start to turn away at the border any migrants who had already registered in another EU member state. Merkel responded that such a decision might cause a "negative domino effects that would also harm Germany."^[12] Ultimately, they found a compromise which saw Merkel gain the upper hand.^[3][13] In September 2018, Seehofer stated that mass migration is "the mother of all political problems" in Germany.^[14][15]