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PM publicly defends his university degree
• 26 Apr 2007 •
 PRIME MINISTER Jose Socrates, was forced to go to the TV to publicly defend the authenticity of his university degree. During a television interview, he firmly rejected the numerous reports and insinuations that he got his engineering degree as a political favour. Socrates denied receiving preferential treatment from the university, even though he was already Secretary of State at the time. Portuguese media have been actively scouring Socrates’ academic records in the hope of uncovering some kind of scandal related to his degree.
The questions about Socrates’ civil engineer degree were first placed by an internet website, but later published in respected newspapers including Publico and Expresso. Those questions related to various alleged discrepancies in Socrates' university records, which raised concerns about his degree from Lisbon's Independent University (IU).
According to the investigations made by those two newspapers, Socrates passed two exams on the same day, and the diploma he received in 1996 was issued on a Sunday. Socrates and his team have also been accused, by a report in weekly newspaper Expresso, of having made strong efforts to keep the story out of the newspapers, by applying high-level pressure on journalists and editors from various media groups. Portugal's media watchdog, the ERC, said it will call the Prime Minister to respond to those accusations. The ERC said it wants Socrates to clarify some points in a written statement, and plans to also question his deputy press spokesman. Socrates' office recently said the reports are aimed at causing personal and political damage to the prime minister and to weaken his government.
An added layer of complexity was given to this case when Education Minister, Mariano Gago, announced he plans to shut down the university where the prime minister got his engineer degree, saying the institute is in a “manifest state of educational degradation.”
The Independent university has already said Socrates completed his degree in 1996 while serving as environment secretary, and denied there is anything wrong with the PM’s record. |  Return to Top
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