German political theater is boiling. Rather than using persuasive arguments and programmes, potential successors to Chancellor Angela Merkel, 67, are currently making headlines with allegations of plagiarism and other wrongdoing.
After Annalena Baerbock (40), Armin Laschet (60) now needs an explanation. The candidate for chancellor of the German Christian Democratic Party (CDU) admits errors in his book The Rising Republic. Migration as an opportunity » from 2009.
At least one paragraph has been copied
“At least one author of the material used in the book is not mentioned in the current text or in the list of sources,” Laschet said Friday, at the request of the German news agency DPA. “In order to clarify if there are any other errors, I will immediately arrange an examination of the book.”
Laschet explained that there were clearly errors in the book he was responsible for. “I would like to expressly apologize for this, because meticulous work when writing works and respect for copyright law is also a matter of respect for other authors for me.”
A book written by the Minister of Integration
An indication of possible similarities between a passage from Laschet’s book and another post was previously posted on Twitter.
Today in the book the Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia called for a “third German unity”: After the integration of the displaced and reunification, the integration of immigrants is now on the agenda.
Laschet said he wrote the work in his previous position as integration minister for North Rhine-Westphalia. “It is a contribution to the debate and helped to present the work of the first German Integration Ministry and to announce a new integration policy at the national level. Accordingly, the ministry was also cited in the book.” This is clear from the bibliography and acknowledgment.
Fees are not taxable
The book’s net proceeds were donated to the “Coach eV” integration project, which has been closely associated with the ministry’s work – known since 2009.
Lachet had problems in the past because of this book. Because he didn’t charge a tax of 4000 euros correctly. The amount was mentioned as a donation in deductions, but was not entered as income, Spiegel writes. In 2015, Laschet paid the taxes.
Nor did Laschet say a good number of flood disasters in Germany over the past few weeks. first signed in Visit the affected areas In a very good mood.
Then Laschet gave himself one An embarrassing appearance in an interview. “Sorry, young lady. Because today is such a day, you don’t change policy,” he says with a view to WDR’s climate protection measures ‘Current Hour’.
It is said that Barbuk did not give sources
Previously, allegations of plagiarism had been raised against the Green Party’s candidate for chancellor. It is said that Annalena Baerbock was in her book “Jetzt. How to renew our country » Quoted from other texts without mentioning the source. Austrian media scientist Stefan Weber, 51, accuses her of this. “And if you take it seriously, there are also many copyright violations.”
In the 240-page book, Burbock disseminates green political concepts and combines them with personal experiences. The only thing is that they do not use footnotes that can refer to the sources.
Weber admits: “The realist book of a Ullstein-Verlag politician is not a dissertation,” he wrote. But: “Textual plagiarism is not morally correct and has already been rightly criticized in factual books.”
publicly accessible facts
The Green Party initially rejected the allegations and spoke of a “character assassination”. A spokesperson for Weber said Weber was trying to “maliciously” damage Burbock’s reputation. “The sections described are publicly accessible facts or known green sites.”
Shortly thereafter, Burbock paddled himself. Compared with the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” “Looking back,” she said, “it would have certainly been better if I had made a bibliography.” I intentionally used “publicly available sources”, but take criticism seriously.
In the world of German political business, allegations of plagiarism have already cost many senior politicians their careers—starting with former Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg (CSU, 49) in 2011.
Plagiarism allegations aren’t the only problem Barbock is currently struggling with. After a neglect with a secondary income and a shiny CV Now keeping track of her latest slip: At the Tachles-Arena of the Central Council of Jews, she used Discussion about racism in the “n-word” textbooks.
She quoted the word when she was telling a story about a female student. He had refused to write a storyboard for a worksheet with the word N on it.
But before the interview was broadcast, Burbock drew attention to the incident on Twitter and admitted her mistake. “Unfortunately, in the recording of the interview, I quoted the N-word in the emotional description of this unspeakable incident and thus reproduced it myself.” This was a “mistake” and she was sorry. (a leg)
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