- published: 11 May 2016
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Horst Lorenz Seehofer (born 4 July 1949) is a German conservative politician (CSU). He served as the Federal Minister for Health and Social Security from 1992 to 1998 and as the Federal Minister of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection in the cabinet of Angela Merkel from 2005 to 2008. In October 2008 he became chairman of the CSU and Minister-President of Bavaria.
He is married to Karin Seehofer.
After secondary school, Seehofer worked in the local administration in Ingolstadt.
Seehofer served as member of the Lower House of the German Parliament (Bundestag) in Germany from 1980. He was Federal Minister for Health and Social Security from 1992 to 1998 in the cabinet of Chancellor Helmut Kohl.
In 1993, 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 H.I.V. The Health Ministry took over the agency's responsibilities. Also, Seehofer announced that Germany would contribute to an emergency fund for victims of the scandal. In the context of the crisis, he came under considerable pressure to resign.