Melis Sekmen entered the Bundestag for the Greens in 2021. Now the economic politician from Mannheim is leaving and joining the CDU.
Renegade: Melis Sekmen switches from the Greens to the Union
SEDAN cup | On Monday evening, the Green Party poster “There is no planet B” was still stuck to its X account. But Melis Sekmen had already committed herself to the CDU’s new basic programme and caused a stir in political Berlin: the Green Bundestag member from Baden-Württemberg is switching to the CDU. A spokesman said late in the evening that she would take part as a guest in the CDU parliamentary group meeting on Tuesday.
There was a long process of consideration behind her decision, Sekman says in a video posted on Instagram shortly before. “I have noticed that my idea of how and in what style politics is done has evolved.” She talks about good ideas, opportunities and hard work, work and progress. That people should be allowed to achieve their goals and judged by their actions and not by their background. “I found this spirit again in the new political programme of the CDU.”
She had a good conversation with Friedrich Merz, the leader of the CDU party and the parliamentary group, and quickly agreed with him that they wanted to bring the basic programme to life together. “To do this, we need a culture of debate that can also identify uncomfortable realities, in which people are not boxed in because of their opinions or concerns,” Sekmen continued. These voices must come from a strong centre and not from the extremes of politics. To achieve this, she now wants to continue working with the CDU, in Mannheim and with the federal government. Obviously she wants to maintain her mandate in the Bundestag.
Sekmen comes from a family with a migration background; her father came to Germany from Turkey as a teenager. The 30-year-old comes from Mannheim and has been a member of the Bundestag since 2021. There she was previously chairwoman of the Greens in the economic committee and since 2022 she has been chairwoman of the parliamentary group “Start-ups & Start-ups”.
CDU leadership triumphs
Sekman's decision came as a complete surprise to the Green Party leadership. She was informed about it at about the same time as the first media report that appeared on Table.Media. “We respect this step, although, of course, we regret it,” Irene Mihalic, parliamentary director of the Greens, told taz. “We will now discuss what organisational measures should be taken.”
It is not often that members of the Bundestag change parliamentary groups, and then a defection from the Greens, whom party and parliamentary group leader Friedrich Merz recently identified as the “main opponent”. It is therefore not surprising that he was visibly pleased with the move. “Mrs Sekmen has a lot in common with her family background and her issues that the CDU also stands for. We do politics for the working people of our country,” Merz told dpa. The group hopes to welcome Sekmen as a new member soon. The MP will apply for membership in the CDU district association in Mannheim in the coming days.
CDU party leader in Baden-Württemberg, Manuel Hagel, posted a selfie of himself and Sekmen on X in the evening: “I knew Melis Sekmen as a woman with absolute power,” Hagel wrote. Her CV tells a story of genuine and successful upward mobility. They cultivate good conditions for innovation and creativity. “That fits very well with the CDU-Baden-Württemberg.”