At 43, she was considered one of the few rising stars of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). On Wednesday, May 19, Franziska Giffey resigned from her post as Minister of the Family over suspicion of plagiarism regarding her doctoral thesis. Four months before the legislative elections of September 26, it is a blow to the SPD, which polls predict the worst score in its history.
The case arose two years ago. In February 2019, the collaborative platform VroniPlag Wiki, specializing in plagiarism tracking in academic work, claims to have identified cases of plagiarism – copied and pasted works whose author is not mentioned, disguised quotes, etc. . – in 49 of the 265 pages of the political science thesis defended by Mme Giffey at the Free University of Berlin, in 2010, under the title: “The Way of Europe towards the citizens. The policy of the European Commission in favor of the participation of civil society. “
Following these accusations, the university had first addressed a “reprimand” to its former student who had become a minister, refusing, however, to deprive her of her title of doctor. But his decision to re-examine the thesis, in November 2020, rekindled suspicions. Six months later, the conclusions of this second expertise are still not known, but Mr.me Giffey preferred to take the lead in leaving the government. In the press release announcing her resignation, published on Wednesday, she explained that she wanted to “Draw the consequences” of this case “Persistent and heavy”, said “Regret if there are errors” in his thesis but claims to have written this one “In good faith”.
Perfect understanding with Angela Merkel
This is the fourth time that a member of the government of German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been accused of plagiarism. On two occasions, such cases had ended in resignations after the ministers concerned had their doctorate titles withdrawn by their former universities, which happened to the conservatives Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg (defense, Christian-Social Union, CSU ), in 2011, and Annette Schavan (education, Christian Democratic Union, CDU), in 2013.
In the third case, the minister concerned was finally cleared, which enabled her to save her post: it is the current president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, questioned by VroniPlag Wiki in 2015, two years after his appointment to the Ministry of Defense, but to whom the Faculty of Medicine in Hanover finally decided not to withdraw his doctorate despite the identification of “Obvious shortcomings” in the attribution of certain references.
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