Horst Seehofer announces his retirement as CSU chief. „The change is part of life – for me too,“ he said. He still wants to remain Federal Minister of the Interior. „He will not hold out,“ it says from the CSU leadership.
Above is the end: Horst Seehofer, here on a police visit to Bautzen, has announced his withdrawal as CSU chief.
A withdrawal is pending, but Horst Seehofer leaves a little time. And then he waits with an explanation that also surprises his party friends. The CSU leader and Federal Interior Minister drove to Bautzen, Saxony. The press conference is delayed by 40 minutes, then speaks first of the Interior Minister, on search pressure in the border area and the division of motorway sections within the police. Seehofer looks around a bit.
He announced his resignation as party leader on the eve of the CSU leadership. Not a few in the party leadership have understood his words in such a way that even as a minister he will not be in office much longer. Seehofer has a folded note in front of him, he stuffs it in his jacket pocket. Then it’s his turn: „Not a single critical sentence has fallen,“ he says contentedly. Maybe that’s why it took so long with the press conference: the police as a feel-good bath for the minister. The previous evening there were quite a few critical sentences in the CSU headquarters, and it took a good hour for the party leadership to give their boss one final deadline in office until January.
Seehofer chooses the police to confirm this withdrawal: „I will resign from the office of party leader of the CSU,“ he says. „This decision is certain.“ He finally wanted to enable the renewal of the CSU. „The change is part of life – for me, too.“ It goes without saying that Seehofer did not delay his withdrawal again and again. The poor state election results have nothing to do with his decision, adds Seehofer. It is a farewell message to Söder: For the crash in the election Seehofer will not be held solely responsible.
For the CSU, the wait can be convenient
So far, so foreseeable. But then there is another sentence in which they begin to wonder again in the CSU. „I am the Federal Minister of the Interior and I will continue to hold office,“ says Seehofer. No retreat from the Cabinet so, although Seehofer has stated, according to participants of the CSU on Sunday evening nor that he can not lead the ministry without the power position as party leader or wants. „He will not be able to hold on,“ it says in the CSU leadership. As strange as the renewed reciprocity of Seehofer may be, for the CSU it can be practical to wait with a personal carousel in Berlin to see who will become the new CDU boss and how the SPD reacts to it.
One thing is certain: Seehofer has the headlines for himself on Monday afternoon. It may be a coincidence: Around the same time a CSU parliamentary group meeting begins in Munich. Seehofer’s probable successor Markus Söder announces there as Prime Minister the new CSU cabinet members. Less are than before, because the CSU needed after the crash in the state election a coalition partner. Three ministerial posts have been given to the Free Voters. Söder has brought in more women and a few younger ones, leaving a few veteran emancipated, such as the former Environment Minister Marcel Huber. Even Minister of Science Marion Kiechle loses her office after just six months. His post as Minister of the Interior is retained by Joachim Herrmann, who is often treated as Federal Minister of the Interior. The CSU Bundestag but it is said that if Seehofer go as a minister, you will fill this post with a CSU federal politician.
