in the 1983 elections, schily was elected to the german bundestag and in the first electoral term in which the greens were represented in parliament, he was one of the spokespersons of the parliamentary group, together with petra kelly and marieluise beck. in parliament, he became a leading exponent of the party's "realist" wing, which favored striving for a governing coalition with the social democrats following the 1987 elections. in 1986, he was the greens' sole representative on a bundestag committee investigating the so-called flick affair. due to the party's policy of rotating its representatives, he had to leave parliament in 1986, but he was re-elected in 1987.