1. Horst Lorenz Seehofer was born on 4 July 1949 and is a German politician who served as Minister for the Interior, Building and Community under Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2018 to 2021.
28 Facts About Horst Seehofer
1. 2.
Horst Seehofer served as President of the Bundesrat from 2011 to 2012.
3.
Horst Seehofer is a proponent of a federal cap on the number of refugees the German government is to take in.
4.
Horst Seehofer served as member of the German federal parliament as a directly elected delegate from his constituency Ingolstadt from 1980 until 2008.
5.
Horst Seehofer was Federal Minister for Health and Social Security from 1992 to 1998 in the cabinet of Chancellor Helmut Kohl.
6.
In 1993, Horst 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.
7.
Also, Horst Seehofer announced that Germany would contribute to an emergency fund for victims of the scandal.
8.
Horst Seehofer served as Health Minister Ulla Schmidt's counterpart in negotiating the cross-party healthcare bill of 2003.
9.
Horst 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.
10.
From 2013 to 2018 Horst Seehofer was a member of the Bavarian Landtag representing the constituency of Neuburg-Schrobenhausen.
11.
In late 2013, Horst Seehofer won a record 95.3 percent of the party's votes to continue as chairman.
12.
In early 2015, under pressure from younger rivals, Horst Seehofer announced he would retire at the next state elections in 2018.
13.
Horst Seehofer announced to stay on as CSU leader beyond 2018.
14.
On 1 March 2018, Horst Seehofer confirmed that he will be in Merkel's cabinet if the SPD party members vote in favour of the coalition.
15.
On 15 March 2018, Horst 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.
16.
Horst Seehofer noted that certain public holidays correspond to certain church holidays.
17.
In June 2018, Horst 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.
18.
On 1 July 2018, Horst 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.
19.
Horst Seehofer was criticised for almost bringing the government down while the monthly number of migrants targeted by that policy was in single figures.
20.
In 2010, remarks made by Horst Seehofer asserting according that Turkish and Arab migrants were no longer needed in Germany were strongly criticised by the Turkish community and by Chancellor Angela Merkel's government.
21.
Horst Seehofer proposed a change to the Bavarian Constitution so that the authorities in the state would be under obligation to help with the integration process but that minorities, too, should be prepared to actively support the integration process.
22.
In September 2019, Horst Seehofer said that he was willing to accept 25 per cent of the migrants who reach Italy by sea, only if everything goes as discussed.
23.
Horst Seehofer is opposed to Turkey becoming a member of the European Union.
24.
In December 2010 and November 2011, Horst Seehofer was the first Minister-President of Bavaria who visited the neighbouring Czech Republic; this was considered an important step in the dispute over the expulsion of the Sudeten Germans after the Second World War.
25.
In February 2013, Horst Seehofer received Petr Necas as the first Czech Prime Minister for an official visit to Bavaria.
26.
In September 2018, a few days after Chemnitz protests against migrants and refugees, Horst Seehofer criticised the debate on migration again saying it is "the mother of all political problems" in Germany.
27.
In 2012, Horst Seehofer demanded that the German constitution be changed to permit referendums on decisions to deepen European integration and transfer powers to European institutions.
28.
In 2013, Horst Seehofer made Peter Gauweiler a deputy leader of the CSU in a bid to court the party's euro critics; however, Gauweiler quit after two years in protest against the extension of Greece's aid program.