Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel has decided to return his master’s degree after allegations of plagiarism. In his thesis from 22 years ago, he is said to have copied 96 percent of the text without citing the source. Media labeled him ‘copy-paste premier’ (cut and paste).
Bettel (48) denies the plagiarism, but previously acknowledged that it ‘could have been different and maybe even should have been’. The University of Lorraine in Nancy (France), where he was studying at the time, decided after checking the thesis that he could keep his diploma if he quickly supplied the ‘missing text references’. Bettel nevertheless has his diploma revoked ‘to remove any doubt as to the merits’ of the title and ‘to avoid any loss of confidence in academic work’.
Footnotes
According to Bettel, the university has confirmed that the thesis is an “original work”. However, he did not provide individual footnotes for certain passages, so that they can be regarded as ‘a kind of plagiarism’.
The Luxembourg online magazine reporter revealed last year that on 54 of the 56 pages of his treatise on possible reforms in European elections, Bettel failed to cite a source, even though they had been transcribed.
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