Green MP joins the CDU/CSU parliamentary group
Deputies changing factions is rare. Now, a young Green Party deputy, Melis Sekmen, has decided to work with the CDU instead. Sekmen, who sits in the Bundestag's Economic Committee, justifies her step with a disappointment over the Green economic policy.
Amidst political disputes between the Union and the Greens, the Green Bundestag deputy Melis Sekmen has switched to the Union faction. "My decision is the result of a long process," confirmed Sekmen in a report from the news portal "Table Media."
The 30-year-old spoke of a "step forward" and added, "My perception of how and in what style politics is made has further developed." Sekmen has Turkish roots - her father came to Germany as a young man. She was born in Mannheim and has been in the Bundestag since 2021.
Union faction leader Friedrich Merz expressed delight at welcoming Sekmen as a new member soon. The deputy intends to seek membership in the CDU Mannheim district association in the coming days. "Mrs. Sekmen's family history and her issues are closely related to what the CDU stands for. We make politics for the hardworking people in our country."
Sekmen reportedly announced her departure from the Greens and from the Green Bundestag faction: "We need a debate culture where people can express their opinion and concerns without being put in a drawer." She added, "These voices must come from a strong center and not from the extreme ends of politics." People should be defined by their actions, their work, and not by their origin, according to Sekken. The new fundamental program of the CDU stands for this. Recently, Sekken had called for a different debate culture, especially in migration and integration policy. "If we want to shape the Greens, we need majority-oriented positions and a political style that listens and names realities," she wrote on her website on June 11.
Disappointment with Green Economic Policy
According to "Table Media," citing party circles, Sekmen had already been in contact with the CDU for weeks due to her disappointment with the Green economic policy. She reportedly spoke with Merz, as well as the chairman of the Baden-Württemberg state group in the Bundestag, Andreas Jung, and the head of the Southwest CDU, Manuel Hagel, about her switch to the CDU.
Deputies changing factions is rare. The Union could last record such an access from another faction in late 1996. At that time, the former East German civil rights activist Vera Lengsfeld also switched from the Greens to the Union. Lengsfeld, who sat in the Bundestag from 1990 to 2005, left the CDU earlier last year. After the departure of CSU deputies Andreas Scheuer and Stefan Müller in April and May, the CDU/CSU faction had 195 deputies.
In the Bundestag, Sekmen is the Green Party's female representative in the Economic Committee and has been the Parliamentary Group Chairman of "Foundations & Start-ups" since 2022. Since 2011, the Deputy has been a Green Party member. From 2011 to 2014, Sekmen was the spokesperson for the Green Youth in her hometown. In 2014, she was elected to the Mannheim City Council, and from 2019 to 2022, she was its faction leader.
Following her disappointment with the Green Party's economic policy, Melis Sekmen, a Green Bundestag deputy with Turkish roots, has decided to join the Union parliamentary group. This transition marks a significant shift in the Alliance 90/The Greens' political landscape.
In the wake of her decision, Sekmen expressed her intentions to join the CDU Mannheim district association, highlighting her alignment with the CDU's values and their focus on hardworking people in the country.
