Degrees and politicians: the transparency of elites is under pressure throughout Europe

In France, the country of grandes écoles and the institutional cult of titles, inflated CVs are nothing new.

Former Socialist Interior Minister Bruno Le Roux was listed in the official pages as a 'former student' of HEC and ESSEC, two of the most emblematic schools of the French elite. Only, as it emerged in 2016, he had never regularly attended either of them. His entourage spoke of a 'mistake' and explained that Le Roux held a degree from Paris-X University, in collaboration with HEC and ESSEC. The wording was corrected and the incident forgotten.

In 2025, Mediapart revealed that a former minister in the Hollande government, Geneviève Fioraso, had never obtained the master's degree she claimed, but only a maîtrise in English with an economic focus. The affair was quickly covered up, despite the fact that Fioraso had been undersecretary for Higher Education and Research.

When Giuseppe Conte was appointed prime minister in 2018, he was an almost unknown law professor. Journalists began digging into his CV. Although he did not possess any false titles, it was discovered that he had systematically inflated his CV with a series of vague or unfounded claims. Public discussion focused in particular on the periods of postgraduate studies he claimed to have attended at New York University. It turned out that he had only attended summer courses lasting one or two days each. Conte also claimed to have spent other periods of postgraduate studies at Cambridge, the Sorbonne and Pittsburgh, but no evidence was found. In his CV, Conte had also inflated his professional experience as a lawyer and legal advisor. The revelations, however, did not harm him politically.

Mariastella Gelmini was a member of Berlusconi's government when, in 2008, it emerged that she had taken the bar exam in Reggio Calabria. Her qualification was formally valid, but the news caused outrage because Gelmini was Minister of Education and Universities. In the region where he was supposed to take the exam, the success rate was only 28%, while in Calabria 87% of the candidates passed. She is still a member of parliament today.

Renzo Bossi, son of Umberto Bossi, founder and historic leader of the Northern League, was elected to the Lombardy regional council when he was only 22 years old. During a search at the home of a former Lega Nord treasurer, a diploma in business administration awarded to Bossi in 2010 by Tirana's Kristal University was found. The problem was that Bossi had finished high school in... 2019. He never attended that university.

In 2013, the well-known economic journalist Oscar Giannino ran for Prime Minister as leader of the small neoliberal party 'Fare per fermare il declino'. A few days before the elections it emerged that he had never graduated, despite claiming to have a bachelor's degree and two master's degrees. The party did not gain seats and Giannino left politics.

Suspicious credit awards, unclear academic programmes and short courses presented as higher education have been used on several occasions, especially by People's Party politicians.

One of the most recent cases involved Noelia Núñez, a young emerging figure in the Popular Party, accused of forging three university degrees in law, political science and linguistics.

Among the best known precedents is that of the former president of the Community of Madrid, Cristina Cifuentes, who was involved in the so-called 'mastergate'. The investigation concerned a master's degree at the Rey Juan Carlos University and brought to light alleged irregularities, including altered votes, disputed minutes and possible forged signatures. The case had a wide national resonance and became a symbol of the so-called 'titulitis', i.e. the strong emphasis placed on academic titles as an instrument of political and social prestige.

Controversial cases also emerged in the centre-left area. The commissioner in charge of the management of DANA, the major catastrophe that caused numerous victims in Valencia, José María Ángel Batalla, appointed by the Sánchez government, was accused of falsifying his degree, used for more than thirty years in accessing public office. He subsequently resigned and is currently under judicial investigation.

Another case concerns Pilar Bernabé, spokesperson for the Valencian government, who indicated in her CV two degrees (Languages and Audiovisual Communication) that she had not completed.

In Romania, the issue of academic transparency has been at the centre of numerous investigations. In 2021, Research Minister Florian Roman resigned after allegations concerning the veracity of some statements about his studies and suspicions of plagiarism.

In 2025, new disputes emerged concerning Justice Minister Radu Marinescu's doctoral thesis, with accusations of extensive textual similarities with other works. At the same time, Defence Minister Ionuț Moșteanu resigned after certain curricular information was verified and challenged in the press.

In Poland, the Collegium Humanum case involved hundreds of administrators and civil servants, with investigations into alleged irregularities in obtaining academic qualifications. The authorities have initiated legal proceedings into an alleged illegal facilitation of study courses.

In the Czech Republic, an investigation in the 2010s led to the annulment of numerous titles obtained at an abnormal time at a law school, with administrative consequences, but limited political effects.

In Germany, Austria and Hungary, several cases of academic plagiarism have led to the resignation of ministers or the revocation of doctorates, marking significant precedents in the relationship between scientific integrity and public careers.

From Western Europe to the Balkans, investigations into curricula and academic qualifications show a transversal phenomenon: the growing centrality of educational transparency in the evaluation of the ruling classes. In many cases, the consequences have been political rather than judicial, but the issue continues to affect public perceptions of institutions and trust in the selection processes of the ruling class.

*This article is part of the European collaborative journalism project "Pulse" and was contributed by Kostas Zafeiropoulos (Efsyn, Greece), Francesca Barca (Voxeurop, France), Lorenzo Ferrari (OBCT, Italia), Sebastian Pricop (HotNews, Romania), Borja Negrete (El Confidencial, Spain) and Karolina Kijek (Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland)