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Federal Minister for the Family, Franziska Giffey (SPD), has stated in the course of the plagiarism scandal surrounding her doctoral thesis that she will resign her degree in the future. Giffey announced this to the president of the Free University of Berlin, Günter Ziegler, on Friday. In response to a request from Tagesspiegel, the FU confirmed that it had received Giffey’s letter and had “taken note” of it.
He decided to take the step to avoid further damage to his family and his political work, as well as to his party, according to the letter, which was first reported by “Funke Medien.”
The minister of the family, who in the future will also lead the Berlin SPD, emphasized in her statement that she wrote her “work to the best of my knowledge and belief.” But: “Who I am and what I can do does not depend on this title. What defines me as a person is not based on this academic degree. “
Giffey announced that she would continue her work as federal minister. Last year, the Social Democrat had announced that she would resign as minister if her title was revoked. Giffey obtained a doctorate on February 16, 2010 from the FU. The topic of his dissertation was “Europe’s path to citizens: the European Commission’s policy on civil society participation.”
Relief in the Berlin SPD
There were reactions of relief in the Berlin SPD, and the party had waited with increasing impatience for a public reaction from the future main candidate.
The state association continues to trust Giffey as the top candidate for the House of Representatives elections in fall 2021. “We discussed it again this morning with the state executive board and we assure her of our solidarity, and we firmly assume that she too will be our top candidate, “said Vice President of the State and Senator of the Interior Andreas Geisel on Friday afternoon.
“It was consistent and correct,” Geisel said of Giffey’s decision. “It does not matter politically to have such a title,” said the SPD politician. “There were many accusations and accusations. I can absolutely understand Ms. Giffey saying that she wants to avoid harm. That was a wise and safe decision he made. ” He also said this in the context of the behavior of Freie Universität. “They had an examination procedure, he decided, Ms Giffey could trust the result,” said the interior senator. Resuming this procedure without new facts is strange.
Helmut Kleebank, Mayor of Spandau, tweeted: “Very respectable decision. Franziska Giffey is and will remain the best for Berlin!”
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Sven Kohlmeier, a longtime member of the Berlin parliamentary group, commented on Giffey’s decision. “I respect Franziska’s decision. The UF’s backward role would have shaped the political debate in the coming months, so the move is understandable,” Kohlmeier said. He noted: “Franziska will be the first and best ruling mayor of Berlin.”
SPD internal statement: “Strange emotionality”
In Berlin SPD circles, immediately after Giffey’s decision became known, there was talk of a “liberation strike”. After Giffey declared himself before a select group of MPs and party officials, there was talk of “a strange emotionality.” Even party members known as critics of the state president-designate and leading candidate of the Berlin Social Democrats were impressed.
Iris Spranger, state vice president of the Berlin SPD and more recently one of the few who was also publicly loyal to Giffey, told the Tagesspiegel: “I think the decision is very, very correct and respectable. Franziska Giffey holds the reins of action in hand again You will receive great support for future tasks. ” Like other participants in an internal SPD network before her, Spranger reported that Giffey’s decision was very popular, saying, “There was never a plan B for Ms. Giffey. She was always our plan A and B.”
Giffey is considered a possible successor to ruling mayor Michael Müller (SPD). In late November, she and SPD parliamentary group leader Raed Saleh are running for the new dual leadership of the SPD regional association.
Doctorate: return no, resign yes
If Giffey has a PhD, for example with “Dr. Giffey ”, as she has always liked to do, it really depends on her. She cannot formally return the title. Because the granting of the doctorate is an administrative act that only the issuing authority, that is, the UF, can withdraw. Giffey’s announcement does not exempt the FU from examining the work.
University examiners saw “objective deception” in 27 parts of the work and initially issued a reprimand. Just last week, the FU announced that it would withdraw the complaint it issued a year ago and reopen the plagiarism procedure.
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The Presidium is thus reviewing the unanimous decision taken a year ago “and its previous technical and legal opinion without new facts. I take note of that,” Giffey said on Friday. The university informed him a year ago that the withdrawal of his doctorate would not be considered proportionate. “I trusted this decision,” said the federal minister for Family Affairs.
In essence, the renewed test deals with the question of whether Giffey’s work is gross or less serious plagiarism. This was preceded by heated debates on whether the UF should have filed the complaint, although this is not provided for in the Berlin University Law. Constitutional lawyer Ulrich Battis eventually ruled on behalf of the FU that, in principle, it was possible to file a complaint, but only in a less serious case. Battis did not comment specifically on the Giffey case.
It is currently unclear what the retest will do.
In withdrawing its complaint, the UF limited itself to communicating somewhat cryptically that a less serious case “had not been demonstrated in the final report of the dissertation review committee” and that, from the Presidium’s point of view, it should perform a new review. The wording left open whether the deceptions were serious or less serious for the presidium and how extensive the re-examination will be, all questions that the FU presidium has not answered to this day.
At the university, many now consider the result to which the new exam will lead completely open. There could also be the curious case that the FU does not withdraw the title even after the second examination, but Giffey has given up his leadership.
A few weeks ago, an external report commissioned by the CDU concluded that Giffey’s doctorate should be revoked, a conviction many researchers have expressed. Because in the first FU scan, the reviewers found 27 places where they assume “objective deception”, and many other places not so clear. Giffey proceeded with “conditional intent”, the defects had a “systematic character”, according to the first test report, which the FU only made public after a complaint from the Asta.
The opposition and the academy also respond to the resignation
“Mrs. Giffey put it correctly. He refrains from using the doctorate. But you can’t do without a PhD. And that is why the procedure at the FU was not over either, ”said Gerhard Dannemann, a law professor at Humboldt University and involved in VroniPlag Wiki, the portal that raised the plagiarism accusations against Giffey.
The political scientist and emeritus of the Otto Suhr Institute, Hajo Funke, calls Giffey’s move “a wise and sovereign political decision” that the Federal Family Minister “hopefully took just in time.” The pressure on Giffey has increased more and more recently, also because neither the events at the Otto Suhr Institute nor the FU Presidium were “relevant to making a publicly recognized decision.” The Senate Chancellery declined to comment on the request again.
“Ms. Giffey’s move is logical and delayed. We hope that the actions of the Free University are now carried out without political influence. The role of scientific management in relation to the procedure should be fully explained. It’s a question of credibility, ”said Stefan Evers, general secretary of the Berlin CDU.
The Berlin senator for Culture and the top candidate of the Left Party for the elections to the House of Representatives, Klaus Lederer, ironically commented on the measure with the words: “We already had the perspective that November would be a month of resignation … “
Kai Gehring, spokesman for the Greens’ university policy in the Bundestag, commented on Twitter: “Academic degrees cannot be returned, they can only be revoked by the university. Giving up the degree is a purely symbolic act. The bottom line is that damage remains. and questions. University, doctor’s mother, minister. Sign for doctorates. “
The resignation calls come from the parliamentary group Berlin AfD. Martin Trefzer, a science expert for the parliamentary group, tweeted: “Giffey’s resignation from the doctorate comes too late and is the result of purely tactical considerations. She has to resign as the federal family minister and cannot run for the office of ruling mayor. ”
The AfD parliamentary deputy in the Bundestag, Peter Felser, also called for Giffey’s resignation. The resignation of the doctorate is a clear admission of guilt. Therefore, resigning from the ministerial chair could only be the logical consequence. (with dpa)
