Merkel supports minister accused of plagiarism

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has come to the defense of Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, whose reputation and political career are at stake. The minister has been accused of plagiarising his Ph.D. thesis. Merkel supports minister accused of plagiarism "[Minister zu Guttenberg] has my full confidence for his work, and this work is important. He has my support ... and we must wait until the university has completed its [examination of the allegations]," Merkel told reporters in the capital Berlin. In response to the allegations, Guttenberg said earlier in a short televised statement outside the defense ministry: "I will temporarily, I repeat temporarily, give up my doctoral title," adding that he would wait until his former university completes its investigation into the plagiarism claims. Just before Guttenberg issued his apologetic statement in Berlin, state prosecutors in Bayreuth - where Guttenberg submitted the 2006 thesis - confirmed that two criminal complaints had been filed against him, claiming infringement of copyrights and lying in the sworn statement that accompanied the thesis. "Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg did not credit me as the author of excerpts that came from an article I once wrote," Barbara Zehnpfennig, a professor at Passau University, told news channel N24. "This breaks all academic rules." Zehnpfennig is not the only source not "properly cited" in Guttenberg's text; several German law professors have accused him of blatant plagiarism, citing up to 70 dubious passages. Newsmagazine Spiegel said Guttenberg even passed off U.S. Embassy material as his own text, translated directly into German, in a string of allegations that has prompted German media to turn the posh Franconian surname "zu Guttenberg" into a far less noble "zu Googleberg." It is not yet known what Merkel and Guttenberg discussed at their Thursday meeting, or whether Guttenberg's future as defense minister has been called into question, but opposition politicians have been quick to call for Guttenberg's resignation. The head of Germany's Left party, Gesine Lötzsch, said Guttenberg should step down if the allegations are substantiated, arguing that "anyone stripped of their Ph.D. is no longer suitable to lead a government ministry." Referring to the 39-year-old's past ability to elude political controversy, Green party head Claudia Roth said there was "no way" Guttenberg could "talk himself out of this affair." "This time he won't be able to fire anyone, either," Roth added in a direct reference to his handling of an alleged mutiny on a naval training ship in November and a deadly Afghan airstrike in September 2009. After rising rapidly through the ranks of the CSU, the telegenic Guttenberg became defense minister in Merkel's center-right government after the 2009 election. If the allegations are substantiated, the University of Bayreuth could issue a warning, ask him to revise the thesis or, in the worst-case scenario, revoke Guttenberg's Ph.D. altogether. The university has given the minister 14 days to issue a written explanation of the allegations.

Merkel supports minister accused of plagiarism

"[Minister zu Guttenberg] has my full confidence for his work, and this work is important. He has my support ... and we must wait until the university has completed its [examination of the allegations]," Merkel told reporters in the capital Berlin.

In response to the allegations, Guttenberg said earlier in a short televised statement outside the defense ministry: "I will temporarily, I repeat temporarily, give up my doctoral title," adding that he would wait until his former university completes its investigation into the plagiarism claims.

Just before Guttenberg issued his apologetic statement in Berlin, state prosecutors in Bayreuth - where Guttenberg submitted the 2006 thesis - confirmed that two criminal complaints had been filed against him, claiming infringement of copyrights and lying in the sworn statement that accompanied the thesis.

"Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg did not credit me as the author of excerpts that came from an article I once wrote," Barbara Zehnpfennig, a professor at Passau University, told news channel N24. "This breaks all academic rules."

Zehnpfennig is not the only source not "properly cited" in Guttenberg's text; several German law professors have accused him of blatant plagiarism, citing up to 70 dubious passages.

Newsmagazine Spiegel said Guttenberg even passed off U.S. Embassy material as his own text, translated directly into German, in a string of allegations that has prompted German media to turn the posh Franconian surname "zu Guttenberg" into a far less noble "zu Googleberg."

It is not yet known what Merkel and Guttenberg discussed at their Thursday meeting, or whether Guttenberg's future as defense minister has been called into question, but opposition politicians have been quick to call for Guttenberg's resignation.

The head of Germany's Left party, Gesine Lötzsch, said Guttenberg should step down if the allegations are substantiated, arguing that "anyone stripped of their Ph.D. is no longer suitable to lead a government ministry."

Referring to the 39-year-old's past ability to elude political controversy, Green party head Claudia Roth said there was "no way" Guttenberg could "talk himself out of this affair."

"This time he won't be able to fire anyone, either," Roth added in a direct reference to his handling of an alleged mutiny on a naval training ship in November and a deadly Afghan airstrike in September 2009.

After rising rapidly through the ranks of the CSU, the telegenic Guttenberg became defense minister in Merkel's center-right government after the 2009 election.

If the allegations are substantiated, the University of Bayreuth could issue a warning, ask him to revise the thesis or, in the worst-case scenario, revoke Guttenberg's Ph.D. altogether.

The university has given the minister 14 days to issue a written explanation of the allegations.