Prime minister Sinkevičius calm over his dissertation: no concerns raised in 2015

Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius has reiterated that he remains calm regarding his doctoral dissertation, stating that no concerns were raised when he defended it in 2015, LRT.lt reports.

Sinkevičius said his work was written over four years and underwent annual plagiarism checks. “In 2015, no one raised any concerns with me,” he stated. He added that he had no direct contact with his alma mater or its rector but followed their official communications.

“I can only repeat what I have said before—I am completely calm. I wrote the work myself, and the attestations took place every year. The dissertation was not written in a few months; it was written systematically over four years. In 2015, ISM University of Management and Economics had programmes that compared the work with others, examining potential ethical violations or plagiarism. No concerns were raised with me in 2015,” the prime minister said.

He insisted the dissertation was prepared ethically and properly. Sinkevičius defended his work on alcohol consumption at ISM in 2015 while serving as mayor of Jonava. Since becoming prime minister, he has faced questions over why the dissertation was not publicly accessible for years and whether it contains plagiarism. The university has since received a complaint about the matter.

Last week, the Academic Ethics and Procedure Controller’s Office received a complaint alleging possible plagiarism in Sinkevičius’s dissertation and forwarded it to ISM University of Management and Economics. The university stated that the complaint would be evaluated under its internal procedures, with its Ethics Committee required to decide within ten calendar days whether to investigate.

Sinkevičius has previously stated he is calm about the situation and that any investigation would conclude in his favour. On Saturday, President Gitanas Nausėda also commented, urging the public to allow the new prime minister to work.

Sinkevičius earned a bachelor’s degree in management and business administration from Vilnius University in 2007, followed by a law degree from Mykolas Romeris University in 2008. In 2009, he obtained a master’s degree in marketing and management from ISM, and in 2015, he defended his doctoral dissertation at the same institution.