MUNICH, July 1 (Reuters) - German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has offered to resign as both minister and as chairman of Bavaria's Christian Social Union at a closed meeting of the party's presidency, party sources said on Sunday.

Sources said Seehofer had not yet submitted the resignation and that some in the party were attempting to change his mind over the decision.

Seehofer has been pushing for Chancellor Angela Merkel to agree to a tougher immigration policy.</s>Munich: German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has offered to resign as both minister and as chairman of Bavaria's Christian Social Union at a closed meeting of the party's presidency, party sources have said.

Sources said Seehofer had not yet submitted the resignation and that some in the party were attempting to change his mind over the decision.

Seehofer has been pushing for Chancellor Angela Merkel to agree to a tougher immigration policy.</s>Germany's interior minister has offered his resignation after a conflict with Angela Merkel over migration policy, party figures say.

Horst Seehofer has been at odds with the chancellor over her approach to mass migration.

He has threatened to turn away some categories of asylum seekers at the German border while Mrs Merkel has sought a European solution.

Sources in Mr Seehofer's party - Bavaria's Christian Social Union (CSU) - said he wanted to "step down" as interior minister and chairman of his party, as he enjoys "no support".

The CSU tried for weeks to get Mrs Merkel to agree to reject asylum seekers at the border if they had already registered in other countries or to get a similar deal from the European Union by 1 July.

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Image: Angela Merkel and interior minister Horst Seehofer

Mr Seehofer complained in Sunday's closed meeting with party bosses that his conversation with the chancellor had "no effect", sources said.

Germany's DPA news agency reported that some members of Mr Seehofer's party were trying to change his mind on the resignation.

It is not clear what effect Mr Seehofer's resignation could have on Mrs Merkel's government, which has looked increasingly precarious during the three-week stand-off.

The CSU and Mrs Merkel's CDU (Christian Democratic Union) have been allies since 1949 but the CSU faces a state election in Bavaria in October, and its anti-immigration stance is its main campaign platform.</s>Germany's interior minister Horst Seehofer said Sunday he wants to resign both his office and his position as head of the hardline conservative Bavarian CSU party, throwing into doubt the future of Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition government.

"He wants to step down as party chairman and interior minister" as he enjoys "no support", CSU party sources told AFP Sunday.

But CSU parliamentary group chief Alexander Dobrindt "does not want to accept Seehofer's resignation," participants in the party's hours-long huddle in Munich on Sunday said.

If Seehofer does resign, it is unclear whether the CSU would seek to remain in coalition with Merkel's CDU and offer a replacement interior minister.

Alternatively it could break up the two parties' decades-long alliance, effectively depriving Merkel of her majority in parliament and pitching Germany into uncharted political waters.

Seehofer and his party met Sunday seeking a response to a hard-fought agreement to reduce migration into the European Union and so-called "secondary migration" between member states hammered out by Merkel at a leaders' summit last week.

The CSU had pressured Merkel for weeks to either agree to its plan to turn away at the border asylum seekers already registered in other countries or to achieve EU deals that would have the same effect, setting her a deadline of Sunday July 1.

Sources said Seehofer complained in Sunday's closed meeting with party bosses that he had endured a "conversation with no effect" with the chancellor on Saturday about whether the EU-wide deal and string of bilateral agreements she struck met his demands.

Meanwhile, the general secretary of the CDU party Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said in Berlin the chancellor's camp was "united" behind "effective, humane solutions together with our European partners" after its own leadership gathering.</s>BERLIN — Horst Seehofer, leader of Bavaria’s Christian Social Union and German interior minister, offered his resignation from both offices late Sunday in order to defuse a clash with Angela Merkel over refugee policy that threatens to bring down Germany’s coalition.

Seehofer said he would step down in order avoid a split of the conservative alliance between his party and Merkel’s Christian Democrats, according to people close to the party. It remained unclear, however, whether the CSU’s leadership, which convened in Munich earlier Sunday to discuss the crisis, would accept the offer.

Merkel, who was meeting in Berlin with the senior ranks of her own party, described the situation to colleagues as “very serious,” Germany’s ARD public television reported.

Merkel had hoped to end her standoff with Seehofer and his party by convincing them she had made substantial progress in securing more European cooperation to confront the refugee crisis at last week’s EU summit. While many in the CSU shared Merkel’s assessment of the summit as a breakthrough, Seehofer was more critical, telling Sunday’s party meeting that the results would make little difference on the ground.

Seehofer argued that Germany should begin turning back refugees at the border who previously registered in another EU country. Merkel has made it clear she wouldn’t support such a step over concerns that it would trigger the collapse of Europe’s system of open borders and further undermine the bloc’s solidarity.

Last month, Seehofer agreed to give Merkel until the EU summit to come up with an alternative solution, setting the stage for Sunday’s showdown.</s>MUNICH (Reuters) - German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has offered to resign as both minister and as chairman of Bavaria’s Christian Social Union at a closed meeting of the party’s presidency, party sources said on Sunday.

Sources said Seehofer had not yet submitted the resignation and that some in the party were attempting to change his mind over the decision.

Seehofer has been pushing for Chancellor Angela Merkel to agree to a tougher immigration policy.</s>Munich: German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has offered to resign as both minister and as chairman of Bavaria's Christian Social Union at a closed meeting of the party's presidency, party sources have said.

Sources said Seehofer had not yet submitted the resignation and that some in the party were attempting to change his mind over the decision.

Seehofer has been pushing for Chancellor Angela Merkel to agree to a tougher immigration policy.
Interior minister Horst Seehofer offers his resignation citing a conflict with Angela Merkel over her refugee policy.