German Family Minister resigns from her doctorate over plagiarism accusation

The German Minister for Family, Seniors, Women and Youth, Franziska Giffey, at a press conference in Berlin, on November 13, 2020.HAYOUNG JEON / EFE

The Minister of Family, Seniors, Women and Youth, Franziska Giffey, has resigned this Friday from her doctorate degree, on which for months there have been suspicions of possible plagiarism.

Social Democratic politics has announced the decision after the Free University of Berlin decided to reopen research on its 2010 academic work, according to the

Giffey assures that he will keep the portfolio he has held since 2018 in the German Executive and aspires to continue his political career in the Social Democratic party.

Giffey indicated in a letter addressed to the University and reproduced by the German press that he renounces the title "with the aim of avoiding further damage" to his family, his political work and his party. "I do not want to continue allowing my doctorate and the procedure that has been reopened become the target of political disputes, ”added the policy, alluding to a process that was initially settled and that a formal defect now requires reopening.

Giffey is a prominent politician of the German Social Democratic Party (SPD) in the city-state of Berlin, in addition to being a minister in the federal government, in which the SPD is the minority partner in the coalition government together with the Union of Democratic Center (CDU), center right, of Chancellor Angela Merkel.

From now on, the minister will no longer use the title of doctor before her name, in a country that reveres academic degrees.

At the end of October, the Berlin University had concluded that the doctorate was still valid.

They had detected certain deficiencies, but considered that it was "an independent scientific work", clearing the suspicions of plagiarism.

After receiving a new opinion from an expert lawyer, the University decided to reopen the case and examine the doctoral thesis again due to a formal defect and competence when issuing criticism for minor deficiencies.

The public television ARD, citing data from the Vroniplag platform, assures that plagiarism was detected in 37.1% of the 205 pages of the thesis.

In some cases they were quotes not identified as such and in others they refer to sources chosen in an “apparently arbitrary” way or whose claims could not be sufficiently supported.

The academic work deals with the policies of the European Commission to promote the participation of civil society.

Despite his popularity, Giffey, 42, had in the past resigned from running for leadership positions in the party due to the doctorate issue.

Now, however, he assures that he will not give up running at the end of November to lead the regional group of the SPD.

And he announced his intention to participate fully in the electoral campaign of the Social Democrats next year, when general elections are scheduled to be held in Germany.

Political consequences

Although Giffey once said last year that if his doctorate was revoked he would leave his post, he has now chosen to act preemptively and try to prevent new research from weighing down his political career.

It remains to be seen what political consequences the decision adopted by the minister this Friday will entail.

This is not the first time that a German politician has been implicated in potential plagiarism of his academic work.

German Defense Minister Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg, 39, resigned from his post in 2011 after being accused of plagiarizing his doctoral thesis.

The same happened to Annette Schavan, a conservative education and research minister in 2013, who retired, mired in a controversy over her title.