Although the University of Lorraine confirmed the Prime Minister's thesis had met with citation rules at the time of submission, Xavier Bettel released a statement on Tuesday confirming he would ask the university to rescind the work.
In October 2021, allegations surfaced that the Prime Minister had failed to cite the correct sources for his final thesis at the then-University of Nancy in 1999.
The online newpaper Reporter.lu alleged that Bettel had plagiarised the majority of the thesis, prompting the PM to issue a statement that he recognised he could have acted differently at the time of submission.
The university - which is now the University of Lorraine - opened an investigation shortly after the allegations were made public. The results of the investigation were delivered to Bettel on 31 January, and have since been published in the following statement by the Prime Minister.
Bettel confirmed in his statement that he would ask the University to rescind his work, despite the investigation clarifying that his thesis had met with requirements at the time it was written. In order to maintain the DEA, he would need to revise the sources accordingly.
Statement published by Bettel 1 Feb 2022
The University of Lorraine informed me yesterday (31.01.2022) of its official decision regarding the paper I wrote in 1998 as part of my DEA (diplôme d’études approfondies). The University explicitly puts the thesis into the context of accepted citation and drafting instructions within the DEA as practiced more than 20 years ago.
The University also confirms that this paper is not a thesis but a synthesis, i.e., a compilation of documents, as was customary and accepted for a DEA at that time.
It is important for me to reiterate that it was not my intention to mislead anyone at the time. Also, the University recognizes that this is an "original work". I have listed my sources in the bibliography. At the same time, however, I did not provide separate text references for individual passages, which can be considered "a form of plagiarism."
The University has decided that I could keep my DEA, upon subsequent insertion of the missing text references.
However, after careful consideration, I have made the decision for myself to ask the University to rescind my DEA. This is to remove any doubts about the merits of the DEA and to avoid a loss of confidence in the academic work. I regret this situation and ask the University to accept my apology and my decision.
