CNN has made a list of ten “politicians called out for copying”, after Melania Trump, US Presidential candidate Donald Trump's wife, was accused of plagiarizing part of her speech during her husband's official candidacy launch on Monday night. Romania’s former Prime Minister Victor Ponta is on that list.

CNN's list also includes US Vice President Joe Biden, Russian President Vladimir Putin, senior White House official Timothy Goeglein, German Defense Secretary Karl Theodor zu Guttenberg, and Hungarian President Pal Schmitt.

“Romania's government became the object of international criticism after Ponta was accused of plagiarizing his doctoral thesis. Ponta dismissed the accusation as a political attack from (former) President Traian Basescu,” writes CNN.

The scandal around Ponta’s doctoral thesis started in 2012. Some two and a half years later, in December 2014, Victor Ponta announced that he would give up his Ph.D. in Law, which e got from the University of Bucharest.

In late June this year, the local commission that evaluates academic titles said that Romania’s Education Ministry should withdraw former Prime Minister Victor Ponta’s Doctor of Law degree due to plagiarism. However, in mid-July, Ponta challenged the commission’s decision.

The other four people included on CNN’s list are US Senator Rand Paul, German Education Minister Annette Schavan, US Senator John Walsh, and Republican Presidential candidate Ben Carson. American President Barack Obama is also on the list, as a bonus.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com