Gießen/Marburg (dpa/lhe) - The Justus Liebig University (JLU) Gießen wants to withdraw the doctorate from the CDU European politician and law professor Sven Simon because of allegations of plagiarism. After a thorough examination of Simon's dissertation from 2009, the doctoral committee of the JLU Faculty of Law came to the conclusion that Simon "deliberately deceived to a significant extent by not sufficiently disclosing the use of foreign texts by citing sources," the university said on Monday with. In view of the seriousness of the violations, the title should be revoked after weighing up all conflicting interests.
With this decision, which is not yet final, the doctoral committee is taking up the recommendations of the committee to ensure good scientific practice. With their final report from December 2021 and the recommendations contained therein, they referred the procedure to the doctoral committee. The JLU said that Simon had lodged an objection to the committee's decision, which had already been received. "The process is therefore not yet complete at this point in time."
When asked by the dpa, Simon himself said that he considered the announced decision "incorrect, especially if you compare it to the standards that have been used in such cases up to now." The doctoral committee's decision is based on an "incorrect application of the law". There is a lack of any standard setting, and numerous professors have already expressed this view. "As a result, they also consider the decision of the Gießen doctoral committee to be legally untenable. That is why I will not accept the preliminary status of the procedure." He has therefore lodged an objection and will apply for an objective review of the decision.
Simon is a member of the CDU European Parliament and holds the professorship for international law and European law with public law at the Philipps University in Marburg. His dissertation at the JLU Gießen was entitled "Liberalization of services of general interest in WTO and EU law".
