Local commission says Romanian PM plagiarized, Education Ministry argues decision void

Romania's Prime Minister Victor Ponta was found to have plagiarized in his doctoral paper, as decided by the National Titles, Diplomas and University Certificates Certification Council. The decision was taken by 13 of the 21 members of the council who attended the meeting late last week.

The Council proposed that the Education Ministry should withdraw the Prime Minister's Doctorate title, but the Education Minister said the decision was not valid, as the council didn't have a quorum of 14 members. The 307-page doctoral paper published by Victor Ponta was analyzed by the council and found to have 85 pages copied without an indication of the source. The Education Ministry, who decided to restructure the National Certification Commission just one day before the vote in Ponta's case said the Commission should not have been the one to analyze the PM's paper, but rather the National Ethics Council. Prior to the results of the analysis, the Prime Minister told The Spanish publication 'El Pais' he would take responsibility if it was proved that his doctoral thesis included plagiarism and he would definitely 'withdraw'. The PM also said yes when asked whether he would resign in this case. However, he later on said he would not resign and that it was all a political decision taken by people close to the Romanian President after the PM attended the European Council meeting. The PM and the President quarreled over whom should attend the high level EC meeting and the PM chose to go to Brussels despite Constitutional Court ruling that the President should have the choice to attend, or nominate a substitute. Shortly after a former Minister of Education was accused of having copied in his scientific paper, the head of the Government himself, prime Minister Victor Ponta (in picture), is at the center of a plagiarism scandal. International magazine Nature indicated that Ponta copied more than half of his thesis, without quoting the necessary sources in his 2003 paper. editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: gov.ro)