“We want to return to certain situations in which the innocent were put in prison.” What do I say about the Marinescu case, two of the few ministers who resigned after accusations of plagiarism

Florin Roman (PNL) and Ioan Mang (PSD), two of the 3 ministers from the Romanian governments who resigned after accusations of plagiarism, claim that they were victims of a system that “didn't want them” there when they wanted to change something and that accusations of plagiarism are used as a political weapon: “Certain ministers are selected only from the area of ​​old parties”. Contacted by HotNews in the context of the Marinescu case, one of them claimed that he resigned “for somewhat personal reasons”, and the other because he was “almost lynched”.

• The PSD Minister of Justice, Radu Marinescu, is the tenth Romanian government minister accused of plagiarism in the last 15 years. Of these, only three chose to resign from their positions until the official verdict of the ethics commissions: Sorin Cîmpeanu, Florin Roman and Ioan Mang.
• HotNews contacted them to ask them if they regret the decision they made and if they think that Radu Marinescu should also resign after journalist Emilia Șercan wrote that she plagiarized more than half of her doctoral thesis. Florin Roman (PNL) and Ioan Mang (PSD) offered explanations. Sorin Cîmpeanu (PNL) did not respond to the request.

“It should be followed who accuses and what are the real reasons”

Ioan Mang was Minister of Education in the first government led by Victor Ponta, who took the oath on May 7, 2012. PSD parliamentarian (senator 2008-2012 and deputy 2020-2024) and currently a university professor at the University of Oradea, Mang was proposed by the PSD in the government after the first option, professor Corina Dumitrescu, then dean and now president of “Dimitrie” University Cantemir”, had also been accused of plagiarism.

After the appointment, several scientific articles appeared signed by Ioan Mang, fully reproduced from other academic sources. Ioan Mang resigned a week later, on May 15, the same day that Nature magazine published an extensive article about the accusations regarding his plagiarism. Nature is the same magazine that, a month later, published an article about the plagiarism of Ioan Mang's boss, Victor Ponta.

HotNews: Mr. Mang, you are one of the few ministers who resigned after an accusation of plagiarism…
John Mang: I resigned for somewhat personal reasons then, although I was not guilty of any plagiarism. I think it should be followed who accuses and what are the real reasons. Normally, they should only charge the one who was plagiarized, if they suffered damages. But someone on the street or a specialist in such accusations, who accuses in all fields… I received an answer after three years that I did not plagiarize. It was about plagiarism in some scientific papers written by someone else, which I didn't even know about. The respective articles had 4-5 authors, and they also passed me over because it was a custom to write papers and also pass the names of department heads, pro-rectors, etc.

– Do you think that Minister Radu Marinescu should resign?
– I can't give advice to anyone whether to retire or not. The prime minister of the government of which I was a part (No. Victor Ponta) did not resign. And he was accused on his doctoral thesis, not on scientific papers.

– What is your conclusion regarding the phenomenon of plagiarism?
– It seems that there is a desire to return to certain situations in which the innocent were put in prison or at least brought to the television with handcuffs. The accusation of plagiarism has become a political weapon. And I see that now there is a big fight and that someone wants to get their hands on Justice again, so they are looking for all kinds of accusations.

It was a political stake in itself that a PD government, of President Băsescu, was overthrown (no – Mihai Răzvan Ungureanu's government fell through a motion of censure). Another stake was the fact that I did not agree with certain provisions of Law 1 (no – Education Law), and President Traian Băsescu told me, when I took the oath: “Don't change the Education Law, but apply it”. I, in my sincerity, told him that I will apply it where it is possible, and where not, I will change it. This is where the whole scandal started.

If I didn't resign, the Baccalaureate was blocked. I was told that this was the idea, to block the Baccalaureate. I preferred that this not happen and I resigned. That's the only way to solve that momentary crisis. At the same time, however, the Minister of Education in Germany was facing the same accusations. And Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany, declared that she did not make him minister because he is a scientist, but because he is a manager.

– Do you regret your decision to retire?
– No. I'm sorry about one thing. After I resigned, education remained at the same stage. I had some projects, I wanted to make changes for the benefit of education, of the student, but that didn't work out, I wasn't wanted. I resigned with pain in my heart that I am doing this gesture and that actually nothing has happened in Education since then.

“Certain ministers are selected only from the area of ​​the old parties”

Deputy Florin Roman (PNL) was appointed Minister of Research, Innovation and Digitalization in the first government led by Nicolae Ciucă and inaugurated on November 25, 2021, in the context of a political crisis generated by the dissolution of the Florin Cîţu Government. He was a deputy since 2016.

20 days after his appointment, on December 15, 2021, Florin Roman resigned from the government after Libertatea journalists showed that he had plagiarized his master's dissertation submitted at the Faculty of Psychology of Titu Maiorescu University in 2012. He sent the Libertatea editors 10 pages of his work, identical to the pages from a course support from the 2007-2008 academic year from The Polytechnic University of Timișoara, signed by Professor Constantin-Dan Dumitrescu. During the same series of investigations, the journalists from Libertatea also showed that Florin Roman wrote in his CV that he graduated from a university he had not graduated from and wrote a book he did not write.

HotNews: Mr. Roman, you are one of the few ministers who resigned after the accusation of plagiarism..
Florin Roman: I am one of those who were lynched on this topic. I made the decision to resign, I addressed the Ethics and Discipline Commission and, after 10 months, I received an email in which, under the signature of the rector and a representative of the Legal Department, I was informed that there was no evidence of plagiarism.

After the lynching to which I was subjected, when this decision came, only Digi24 took it over (no – the television station took over a message from Florin Roman's Facebook, not the message of the Ethics Commission). For this, no one pays. No one realized that he simply licked me. Or no one even apologized. I was left with public opprobrium, because even today I am attacked on this topic and I am labeled as a “plagiarist”.

– Do you think that Minister Radu Marinescu should resign?
– Everyone does what they think, it's everyone's personal decision. I, I repeat, made the decision to resign, I did what the law says, that is, I turned to the Ethics Commission to analyze the suspicions and, after 10 months, I received a reply that there was no evidence that I had plagiarized.

– What is your conclusion regarding the phenomenon of plagiarism?
– Many things like this appear because of the excessive and countless changes to the Education Law. Indeed, the rules and thresholds were different 20-30 years ago and I find it curious that you judge these cases according to the current situation. The accusation of plagiarism can be used as a political weapon. I notice that certain ministers are selected only from the area of ​​the old, traditional parties. Or depending on the moment: in my case, the discussion was about the Government Cloud, which involved a funding of around 4 billion (No. – The amount allocated for the Government Cloud project through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan is approximately 500 million euros, i.e. 2.2 billion lei). I have no proof of this, but I am convinced that this story came to me because I was not wanted to be there when those contracts were being awarded.

– Do you regret your decision to retire?
– No, absolutely not at all. I made a gesture that I think everyone in politics should do. It was not comfortable, because I felt that I was being treated unfairly. But, from a political point of view, there is no other answer from my point of view.