Slovak Prime Minister Igor Matovič publicly admitted that he plagiarized his diploma thesis. He did this in reaction to the analysis by the Denník N daily, which claim Matovič put together his thesis from two books, neither of which he properly cited.
Later on Thursday, Matovič appealed to his supporters via social media not to defend him, thus admitting his failure. At the same time, he added that 22 years ago, when he was writing the thesis, he did not know he was doing something wrong. "If so, I stole something that did not belong to me and I am technically a thief, which is sad and certainly not to be praised", he stated for the Dennik N daily. He added he should lose his degree due to the plagiarism. This is already the third case of plagiarized thesis in the current government within the past few days.
On Friday morning, the former Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini called for Igor Matovič to resign, claiming that a liar should not be leading the country. Matovič claims he will not resign until he fulfills his promises. The coalition partners are not calling for his demission either. Veronika Remišová from the junior coalition party For the People said the priority of their government is to increase the quality of the education system, as it seems very likely that similar cases will be uncovered in the future.
Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová also reacted to the case by saying she does not approve of cheating. She is saddened and disappointed by the incident. The head of the state thinks that since Slovakia is facing unprecedented challenges in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, public trust towards the government is more crucial than ever and it is irresponsible to gamble with it.
