Hungarian President Loses Doctorate for 'Bulgarian' Plagiarism

The Chairman of the IOC Sport and Environment Committee and President of Hungary Pal Schmitt. Photo by EPA/BGNES

The Budapest University of Medicine and Sport "Ignaz Semmelweis" has withdrawn the doctoral degree of Hungarian President Pal Schmitt for plagiarism in writing his thesis.

The information was reported by local news agencies.

The Hungarian magazine HGV published in January an article revealing that a large part of Schmitt's dissertation, written in 1992, was an exact translation of Bulgarian researcher Nikolay Georgiev's Analyse du programme olympique (des Jeux d'Olympiade). A total of 180 of the 215-page dissertation of the Hungarian president were copied from Georgiev.

In the aftermath, the Semmelweis University formed a five-member panel which formally cleared Schmidt of plagiarizing his doctoral dissertation, but proposed that his doctorate be withdrawn based on the findings of its inquiry into the allegations.

Hungary's four parliamentary opposition parties have urged Schmitt to resign amidst growing media pressure.

Pal Schmitt, 69, has been President of Hungary since 2010. He served as an ambassador during the 1990s, and was a Vice President of the European Parliament from 2009 to 2010. After briefly serving as Speaker of the National Assembly of Hungary in 2010, Schmitt was elected as President of Hungary in a 263 to 59 vote in the Parliament. Schmitt is a supporter of the second cabinet of Viktor Orban.

Schmitt was a successful fencer in his youth, winning two gold medals at the Summer Olympics. He later became the Chief of Protocol of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and presided over the World Olympians Association between 1999 and 2007.

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