Romania

Romanian PM under fire over accusations of plagiarism

cde.news desk 19 January 2022, 10:40 · 2 min read

epa09602132 Romania's Prime Minister-designate Nicolae Ciuca prepares to drink water after he delivered a speech before the confidence vote on his cabinet during a plenary session of the Parliament assembly, in Bucharest, Romania, 25 November 2021. Following the collapse of the Citu cabinet on 05 October 2021 due to a no-confidence vote in parliament, and the failure of nominated premier Ciolos to pass his cabinet trough a confidence vote on 20 October, Ciuca was nominated as Prime Minister by Romania's President for the second time, now backed by a new coalition formed by the PSD (Social Democratic Party), PNL (National Liberal Party), UDMR (Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania) and national minorities. Nicolae Ionel Ciuca, 54, lately acting as a Defense Minister, is a Romanian politician and retired general of the Romanian Army, who served in Iraq war as Chief of Staff of Romanian forces, and, for a short term, he was leading a caretaker government in December 2020. EPA-EFE/ROBERT GHEMENT

Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca denied accusations that he plagiarised parts of his doctoral thesis which could further weaken confidence in his grand coalition government two months after taking office.

An investigation by news website PressOne accused Ciuca, a retired army general, of plagiarising roughly a third of his thesis in 2003 on military science and copying passages from two other papers without attribution.

Ciuca denied the allegations and said in a statement he wrote the paper “in accordance with the legal requirements existing at the time,” adding he has asked the ethics committee of the National Defense University – which issued his doctoral title – to verify his work. The university said it will do so.

“The subject choice of my doctoral thesis is predominantly based on my personal experience accumulated in international missions,” Ciuca said. “The public accusations cannot be scientifically supported in any way.”

Plagiarism charges are widespread in the European Union state among lawmakers, former cabinet ministers and magistrates, further eroding trust in institutions. Former leftist Prime Minister Victor Ponta handed back his doctorate after plagiarism charges against him were confirmed.

Ciuca’s coalition government was endorsed with overwhelming majority by parliament in late November after a two-month long political stalemate during the country’s deadliest COVID-19 wave since the start of the pandemic.

(Reporting by Luiza Ilie Editing by Marguerita Choy)

Photo – Romania’s Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca. EPA-EFE/ROBERT GHEMENT