Pal Schmitt

"LandepNews"

Pal Schmitt

Hungarian president Schmitt Pal on Friday cancelled all public engagements and is expected to make an announcement about a possible resignation in an address to the Hungarian radio and television, a move that is anticipated by many people in the central European country.

The move comes after the president of Hungary was accused by a special committee of his alma mater, the Semmelweis University, of having copied large chunks of the thesis he held in 1992 on Olympics history. The university said that he copied “word for word” important parts of the paper and added that this was a violation of the scientific norms.

The pubic humiliation of the president, who is expected to set a moral standard in his country, has prompted the Hungarian parties to set their differences aside and demand his resignation.

The leader of the Socialist party, Mesterhazy Atilla, said that Pal Schmitt was not worthy to hold the office of president, and the spokesperson of the nationalist party Jobbik said that the “wrath of the people” would remove him from office, if he wants to remain in the office.

Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban, a close ally of the president, was more circumspect, saying that the problem lies with the president, and he is the only one who should make the decision to resign or stay in power.

However, a member of the cabinet, from the Fidesz party in power, said that the president should have resigned much earlier. He added that the time to walk away with dignity has passed. This comment, made on conditions of anonymity, was interpreted as a sign that the Fidesz no longer supports the president.

The 69-year president went to a sport university, and published in 1992 a doctorate thesis called An analysis of the programme of the modern Olympics, which is said to have been taken from the work of Bulgarian sports researcher Nikolay Georgiev.

The scandal broke in January 2012, when Hungarian news organizations accused him of having copied 197 out of the 215-page work without giving the appropriate credit to the Bulgarian scholars. Grigoriev’s daughter said she was not aware her departed father had any cooperation with the Hungarian president.

The scandal went to a next level when it was made clear that members of the thesis committee were also members of the Hungarian Olympic Academy and of the Hungarian Olympic Committee, which Pal Schmitt was heading at the time the thesis was presented, which would be a conflict of interests.

Schmitt made his first comments after the first report, saying that there was no case of plagiarism, since he had cited Grigoriev’s work at the references. He refused to make any more comments, until he spoke at the radio and said that in theses like this it was normal to use “a common core material.”

On March 27 the Semmelweis University finding committee recommended that the doctorate title be revoked. Pal Schmitt was withdrawn the title on March 29.

Pal Schmitt was a successful Hungarian fencer in his youth, winning two gold medals at the Summer Olympic Games. In the 1990s, he was an ambassador of his country, and in 2004 he became member of the European Parliament, running for Fidesz.

In 2010, when he completed his term as a member of the parliament, he was elected president of Hungary on August 6, 2010, by a 263 to 59 votes by the parliament. In the 1980s, he was the general secretary of the Hungarian Olympic Committee, and became president of the Hungarian Olympic Committee, a job he held until 2010.

Plagiarism ended last year the career of Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, the German foreign minister, considered by many the future chancellor of the country. Parallels were drawn between the two statesmen.

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