Hungary Steps Up Calls for President Resignation over 'Bulgarian' Plagiarism

Hungarian President Pal Schmitt speaks at a gala evening celebrating Hungary`s new constitution attended by top government and state officials among other guests at the Opera House in Budapest, Hungary, 02 January 2011. EPA/BGNES

Hungarian President Pal Schmitt is under an increasing pressure to resign, even though he was formally cleared of plagiarizing his 1992 doctoral dissertation.

On Wednesday, a five-member committee at Budapest's Semmelweis University says academics at the then-independent University of Physical Education should have noticed and called attention to similarities between large parts of Schmitt's thesis analyzing the Olympic Games and works by other authors, including Bulgarian researcher Nikolai Georgiev.

In January, it emerged that a large part of Schmitt's dissertation, written in 1992, was an exact translation of Georgiev's Analyse du programme olympique (des Jeux d'Olympiade), written in 1992. A total of 180 of the 215-page dissertation of the Hungarian president was copied from Georgiev.

Hungarian media reported on Thursday that Semmelweis University had proposed that Schmitt's doctorate be withdrawn based on the findings of its inquiry into the allegations.

Hungary's four parliamentary opposition parties have urged Schmitt to resign.

The leading right-leaning daily Magyar Nemzet called on Thursday on Schmitt to resign, saying his position had become untenable.

"This is a losing battle. The destruction of the institution and the crumbling of faith in an honorable public life cannot be stopped like this," the paper declared in an editorial, as cited by international media.

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