Shamed president cancels appointments
Source: Agencies |
March 31, 2012, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
HUNGARIAN President Pal Schmitt cancelled his appointments yesterday, a day after being stripped of his doctorate following a months-long plagiarism row which opposition parties say make him unworthy of the job.
The controversy comes at a sensitive time for Hungary as it tries to resolve a lengthy dispute with the European Union on contested new laws to unlock stalled talks on financial support.
Online news portals origo.hu and nol.hu cited sources in the ruling Fidesz party and its Christian Democrat allies as saying that Schmitt, who took office less than two years ago, could soon announce his departure.
"He should have done this weeks ago," origo.hu cited a top Christian Democrat politician as saying. "The evolution of the situation makes his position more untenable by the hour."
A spokeswoman for the president's office said Schmitt would be appearing on public television later but declined to comment on the reports.
An earlier statement from the president's office gave no explanation for yesterday's cancellations. Schmitt had been due to meet Slovenia's visiting foreign minister and attend an innovation awards ceremony to be held in the parliament.
Shortly after the morning announcement, about 20 activists and a member of the small opposition LMP party staged a protest outside the presidential palace demanding Schmitt's resignation.
Schmitt, 69, has denied wrongdoing since allegations in January that he had copied large parts of his 1992 thesis from other authors.
The decision by Budapest's Semmelweis University to withdraw Schmitt's doctorate is an embarrassment for Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who called Schmitt the most suitable candidate for president before his appointment in 2010.
The controversy comes at a sensitive time for Hungary as it tries to resolve a lengthy dispute with the European Union on contested new laws to unlock stalled talks on financial support.
Online news portals origo.hu and nol.hu cited sources in the ruling Fidesz party and its Christian Democrat allies as saying that Schmitt, who took office less than two years ago, could soon announce his departure.
"He should have done this weeks ago," origo.hu cited a top Christian Democrat politician as saying. "The evolution of the situation makes his position more untenable by the hour."
A spokeswoman for the president's office said Schmitt would be appearing on public television later but declined to comment on the reports.
An earlier statement from the president's office gave no explanation for yesterday's cancellations. Schmitt had been due to meet Slovenia's visiting foreign minister and attend an innovation awards ceremony to be held in the parliament.
Shortly after the morning announcement, about 20 activists and a member of the small opposition LMP party staged a protest outside the presidential palace demanding Schmitt's resignation.
Schmitt, 69, has denied wrongdoing since allegations in January that he had copied large parts of his 1992 thesis from other authors.
The decision by Budapest's Semmelweis University to withdraw Schmitt's doctorate is an embarrassment for Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who called Schmitt the most suitable candidate for president before his appointment in 2010.
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