Roberta Metsola has denied allegations by an Austrian media researcher that her dissertation contained plagiarised material from other authors.

In a report published online, Stefan Weber said a thesis submitted to the University of Malta by the European Parliament president more than 20 years ago contained “at least” 188 plagiarised fragments of text.

Claiming that “astonishing” plagiarism could be found on “nearly every page” of the thesis, Weber said it did “not help to gain trust in the EU’s governance.”

University of Malta rector Alfred J Vella that the university would “examine the allegations” - a process it expected to take “weeks”.

Responding to the accusations, a spokesperson for the EP president said the claims were “totally unfounded” and that Metsola “stands by the authenticity of her work... and rejects any assertion to the contrary.”

Weber's report was picked up by German tabloid Bild, was highlighted by Labour MEP Alex Agius Saliba on Facebook and the party’s broadcaster ONE News on Thursday evening.

The newspaper also appeared to question Metsola's use of the title 'Doctor', a convention commonly applied by law graduates in Malta but not by those in Germany.

The spokesperson said that “coming one week after the Times of Malta survey [suggesting Metsola to be PN supporters’ preferred leader], the president is not surprised at the timing of the Labour Party using this now in Malta.”

"She will defend herself and her work rigorously,” the spokesperson said, adding Weber was "confusing, deliberately or mistakenly, the University of Malta's law degree and a PhD.”

“In Malta, like other countries, a degree in law (LL.D as it was known) is considered as a legacy doctoral degree... Every person who has ever graduated with this degree in Malta is granted the title of ‘Dr’ and is referred to as such,” he said.

"This is a similar situation with law graduates in other EU countries and this is the case with every lawyer in Malta, including the Prime Minister and leader of the Malta Labour Party."

The spokesperson added that this question had already been answered 23 years ago.

"The thesis was examined by a panel of academics and legal experts, who were the body competent to decide on whether the thesis reached the necessary standards. They examined it in detail and concluded that the thesis did match the standards needed for the degree."

The claims

Weber’s report contains two columns of text; the left, passages taken from Metsola’s Electoral Systems and Electoral Outcomes: A Comparative Study, and the right those from the “uncited original source” the EP president is alleged to have copied.

A Times of Malta exercise found that while several sections of text in Metsola’s thesis appeared to closely or identically match those by other authors documented in Weber’s report, other referenced passages provide clear citations to the referenced authors.

Some examples of "uncited" text included citations.

Weber alleged sections of text were taken from other authors without citation.

Some of the quoted sections did not include a citation.

The thesis referenced by Weber is attributed to Metsola under her maiden name, Roberta Tedesco Triccas, and hosted at the UoM website.

'The plagiarism hunter’

Weber is the author of the 2023 book, On the hunt for plagiarism, and has been referred to by the New York Times as “the plagiarism hunter” and “the undisputed terror of academics, politicians and celebrities”.

However, he is not without his critics, and at least one other target of Weber’s has been cleared of wrongdoing after a university review.

Last year, the deputy editor-in-chief of Süddeutsche Zeitung, one of Germany’s largest newspapers was cleared of wrongdoing after an investigation by the University of Salzburg, according to German news outlet Der Spiegel. 

The outlet said the report documenting claims of plagiarism by Alexandra Föderl-Schmid – also written by Weber – had been commissioned by German right-wing media outlet Nius.

Meanwhile, in 2021, German Greens then co-leader Annalena Baerbock – now German foreign minister – faced allegations of copyright infringement from Weber over sections from her book Now. How We Renew Our Country, claims her party rejected and described as “character assassination.”

Earlier this month, Weber was convicted of defaming the rector of the University of Klagenfurt and fined €4,000 after questioning whether the dismissal of two professors at the university had been a “show of power” by the rector.