German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has confirmed his offer to resign both from the Cabinet and as CSU leader within the next three days, after unexpectedly re-escalating his standoff with Chancellor Angela Merkel over Germany's asylum policy.

But, according to reports from a crunch leadership meeting in Munich that stretched into early Monday morning, other senior party figures had tried to dissuade Seehofer from stepping down. A press conference that had been expected all evening was eventually postponed, before Seehofer appeared briefly before reporters to confirm the reports of his resignation offer. He did say, however, that he was going to seek one more talk with Merkel on Monday about asylum policy before deciding on his future.

"In the interest of this country and the capacity of this government, which we want to maintain, we want to make an attempt to find an agreement on this central question of turning people away [at the German border]," he said. "Everything else will be decided afterward."

Seehofer, leader of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party to Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), had said earlier that his talks with the chancellor on Saturday had "not had any effect" on their conflict.

This was a direct contradiction of Merkel's account of the encounter, delivered in an interview with the public broadcaster ZDF on Sunday. Merkel argued that the deal reached by the European Union would have the same effect as the CSU's calls to start sending people away at the border if they had already applied for asylum in another EU member state.

"The sum of everything we have decided has the same effect [as national measures]," she said. "That is my personal conclusion. Of course, the CSU will have to decide that for itself."

Read more: Seehofer: CSU does not want to topple Merkel over migration spat

Working together?

The chancellor also said she had made concessions to Seehofer's demands. "I would like very much for the CDU and CSU to continue working together," she added. "Because we are a success story for Germany."

The leaderships of the CDU and CSU met separately in Berlin and Munich on Sunday to discuss whether and how the two parties, which have been allied since 1949, will continue to work together. The CSU is facing a state election in Bavaria in October, and has opted to take a hard-line anti-immigration stance as its main campaign strategy.

The move is part of an effort to defend the party's absolute majority in Bavaria's state parliament and win back voters from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). At the end of the AfD's party congress in Augsburg on Sunday, AfD politicians said the CSU's asylum policy changes didn't go far enough.

The chancellor's claim that the CSU's demands had been fulfilled by the EU deal was contradicted by some CSU politicians entering the meeting in Munich, who maintained that it was up to the party to decide. There is also a difference of opinion between the parties about whether the EU deal allows unilateral action by member states on closing borders or not.

Sunday's long-planned TV interview with Merkel — an annual event before parliament's summer recess — could barely have been scheduled at a more inconvenient moment for the chancellor, as at the same time the CDU was preparing to meet for vital talks across town in Berlin. She refused to comment on any speculative questions related to her asylum policy and the government crisis, preferring to wait until the CDU and CSU had concluded their talks.

She vehemently defended the deals she had struck in Brussels last week, when she gave a number of concessions to other EU countries. But right-wing governments in Hungary and Poland have since said they have not reached any new deals on asylum.

Watch video 01:47 Share Open EU a thing of the past? Send Facebook google+ Whatsapp Tumblr linkedin stumble Digg reddit Newsvine Permalink https://p.dw.com/p/30aCs Open Bavarian border may become a thing of the past

Where is the 'master plan'?

The CDU leadership in Berlin was reduced to waiting for developments from CSU headquarters. Shortly after the reports of Seehofer's possible resignation, CDU General Secretary Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer appeared before reporters to reaffirm the party's commitment to Merkel's asylum policy.

"Unilateral rejections [of asylum-seekers] would in our opinion be the wrong signal for our European partners," she said, before adding that the deals reached in Brussels provided a good basis for the reduction of migration.

The interior minister's "master plan," which triggered the present German government crisis just over two weeks ago, would see asylum-seekers who had already been registered elsewhere being shut out of Germany — a potential breach of EU law and the Geneva Convention on refugees' rights.

Read more: Europe's Schengen Area: What you need to know

After Merkel rejected the plan, Seehofer set the chancellor a deadline of July 1 to find a "European solution" to the issue of "secondary migration," referring to asylum-seekers crossing internal EU borders after having already applied elsewhere in the EU.

Though the master plan remains unpublished, it emerged on Sunday evening that Seehofer had handed it out at the CSU meeting, though it had not been made available to the CDU leadership in Berlin. Photos of individual pages of the plan were circulated on Twitter, which confirmed that Seehofer still intended to turn asylum-seekers away.

When Merkel rejected the plan two weeks ago, Seehofer threatened to unilaterally implement his border control measures, using his authority as interior minister over the federal police. In turn, Merkel threatened to overrule him.

NGO ship rescues Europe-bound migrants in Mediterranean First on site At around 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 31, the search-and-rescue vessel Aquarius, along with the Libyan coast guard, was alerted by the Italian Rescue Maritime Coordination Center (IMRCC) that a rubber boat was in distress in international waters. Aquarius is manned by rescue workers from SOS Mediteranee, medics from Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and a nautical and technical crew.

NGO ship rescues Europe-bound migrants in Mediterranean People in distress Aquarius made first contact with the rubber boat in international waters at around 11:00 a.m. Soon after, the SOS head coordinator was informed by IMRCC that the Libyan coastguard would take charge of the rescue operation. As people in the overcrowded rubber boat, visibly in distress, waved frantically, Aquarius was instructed to standby and wait for further instructions.

NGO ship rescues Europe-bound migrants in Mediterranean Helping hand Two hours later, and with no Libyan coastguard in sight, the Aquarius was able to convince the IMRCC and the Libyans to allow them to rescue children, women and families. They evacuated 39 vulnerable people. They had to leave the remaining 80-90 men on the rubber boat to the Libyan coastguard. The Aquarius has the capacity to carry 500 rescued people.

NGO ship rescues Europe-bound migrants in Mediterranean All in it together MSF nurse Sylvie was on board the Aquarius' fast-speed rescue boat, whose personnel identified medical and vulnerable cases later evacuated to the NGO ship. Over the course of three missions, the staff saved 292 people from more than 20 countries, the majority from sub-Saharan Africa. Besides showing signs of dehydration, exhaustion and weakness, some also displayed signs of physical abuse.

NGO ship rescues Europe-bound migrants in Mediterranean Having fun As parents rested on the ship's deck, MSF logistician Francois took a moment to interact with the newly arrived children. Those rescued got a chance to bond with the ship's crew as well as to express themselves in safe and secure surroundings.

NGO ship rescues Europe-bound migrants in Mediterranean Doctor's orders Dr. Dan from California gave each new arrival a check-up to see whether anyone was in need of urgent medical care. Once on land, those rescued are examined by local medical staff in Italy.

NGO ship rescues Europe-bound migrants in Mediterranean Holding tight in rough weather As the vessel pitched and rolled in strong winds, SOS Mediteranee team member Theo cuddled a child rescued the day before. "As a seaman it's your duty to save anybody in distress," he said. "We all shed tears yesterday. I had a baby and children in my arms. We helped some women. What's the most important is to get all these out people out of the water, to save them and for them to survive."

NGO ship rescues Europe-bound migrants in Mediterranean Thanking the Lord As the Aquarius approached the Sicilian city of Messina, the designated Italian port of safety, many of the rescued women began singing French and English gospel songs praising the Lord and thanking him for safe passage across the Mediterranean Sea.

NGO ship rescues Europe-bound migrants in Mediterranean On terra firma Francois personally helped all 292 men, women and children disembark. "Emotionally it was really hard, because once the last guy stepped out on shore, it was over. I could just call everyone and say disembarkation successfully finished, and then I felt empty."

NGO ship rescues Europe-bound migrants in Mediterranean Thank-you kiss These lucky people made it to Europe. According to international NGOs figures, between 750,000 and 900,000 immigrants and asylum-seekers remain trapped in Libya, whose migrant detention centers the UN has called inhumane. Many see merely one way out: to attempt to cross one of the world's most deadly seas in rubber dinghies that can only be considered floating death traps. Author: Filip Warwick



Every evening at 1830 UTC, DW editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here.