German minister Seehofer announces resignation as CSU leader

German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer issued a statement on Friday announcing his resignation as Christian Social Union (CSU) leader on Jan. 19, 2019.

In a brief statement, Seehofer said that a special CSU conference would be held on that date which would give the party base "sufficient opportunity to discuss how the CSU can win more trust among the population again." He added that the coming year should be the "year of the renewal of the CSU". No information was provided with regards to Seehofer's future in federal politics.

German media recently reported that Seehofer had made clear during a closed-door CSU meeting that he would not seek to retain his post as interior minister after surrendering the party leadership.

However, no specific guidance was provided as to when he would actually depart Chancellor Angela Merkel's (CDU) ruling "grand coalition" cabinet.

Seehofer has faced growing pressure to step down within his own party after the CSU slumped to its worst ever post-war result (37.2 percent) in recent state elections in Bavaria. Many in the party blame frequent infighting between the interior minister and chancellor Merkel in Berlin during the past months for having driven former CSU voters into the arms of the left-of-center Greens and far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) opposition parties.

Seehofer first joined the CSU youth organization when he was 22 years old. He has occupied the party leadership since 2008. Prior to being inaugurated as interior minister in March 2018, he served as state governor in the CSU's southern homestead of Bavaria for a decade.

Following first reports that he was planning to resign as CSU leader, the Green party (Gruene) has urged Seehofer to leave the federal cabinet with immediate effect as well. "Every day which Horst Seehofer stays on as interior minister is a day too many," Greens parliamentary faction leader Katrin Goering-Eckardt told the newspaper Tagesspiegel.

By contrast, former CSU leader and governor of Bavaria Edmund Stoiber argued in Rheinische Post on Friday that it was still possible for Seehofer to serve as a "good interior minister" after relinquishing the party leadership.