Nickels served as
Member of the German Bundestag from 1983 to 1985, from 1987 to 1990 and from 1994 to 2005. In a tumultuous plenary debate on a plan to deploy American
Pershing II and cruise missiles in November 1983, she notably gave
Chancellor Helmut Kohl a wreath of
paper cranes made by children in
Hiroshima. In 1984, Nickels became one of six Green Party women – alongside Annemarie Borgmann, Waltraud Schoppe, Heidemarie Dann and Erika Hickel – who took over the leadership of her party's
parliamentary group, displacing better-known Green figures like
Petra Kelly and
Otto Schily. When, on 18 October 1984,
President of the Bundestag Richard Stücklen excluded Green Party MP
Jürgen Reents from the session for calling Helmut Kohl "bought by
Flick", Nickels requested an interruption. Stücklen turned her microphone off, which prompted
Joschka Fischer to address him, "With respect, Mr. President, you are an asshole", for which he in turn was excluded by Stücklen. Fischer apologized to Stücklen two days later. Nickels chaired the Committee on Petitions from 1994 to 1998 and the Committee on Human Right and Humanitarian Aid from 2001 to 2005. Following the
2002 elections, Nickels was part of the Green Party's team in the negotiations with the
Social Democrats on a coalition agreement for the second
government under the leadership of
Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. Ahead of the
2005 elections, Nickels announced her intention to run for another term but eventually failed to secure her party's nomination. ==Other activities==