The Spanish political scene this summer has become embroiled in accusations and counter-claims about the academic qualifications of some of its leading members. Events of recent weeks follow the resignation of former Health Minister Carmen Monton after accusations of plagiarism and other irregularities in obtaining her Masters degree.
Now, Spain’s new socialist prime minister Pedro Sánchez is in the firing line. The new row was triggered by the right-wing newspaper ABC which splashed the headline “Pedro Sánchez plagiarised his doctoral thesis” on its September 12 front page. It alleged that most of the work was written by noted economist Carlos Ocaña who immediately denied the claim.
“Pedro Sánchez plagiarised his doctoral thesis”
Now, Spain’s new socialist prime minister Pedro Sánchez is in the firing line. The new row was triggered by the right-wing newspaper ABC which splashed the headline “Pedro Sánchez plagiarised his doctoral thesis” on its September 12 front page. It alleged that most of the work was written by noted economist Carlos Ocaña who immediately denied the claim.
However, Ocaña confirmed that he and Sánchez had collaborated on a book, “The New Spanish Economic Diplomacy,” in which parts of the PhD were included. “The book was based largely on the president’s thesis, and I only wrote parts of some of the chapters,” Ocaña explained.
For his part, Sánchez has announced legal action for libel against ABC, which says it does not intend to change one word of the original article and would be interested to see the president’s evidence to support is action. The thesis has been under scrutiny by journalists in the library at the Camilo José Cela University in Madrid and Sánchez has given permission for it to be published.
The university says it conducted a thorough review of the internal and external processes used to evaluate of the thesis presented by Sánchez 2012, and has confirmed their “complete normality … in line with legislation in force and the habitual verification and control protocol” of the institution.
